8.4. Charts, Maps, and Short Arguments
What to read and write between now and test day.
The short version
Real charts and tables for Academic Task 1.
Real letters for General Training Task 1.
Short opinion pieces for Task 2 ideas.
Practise the job, not the test
Writing practice is not another hour of test tips. Use real material for the job your Task 1 asks of you (charts and maps on Academic, letters on General Training). Use short opinion pieces for Task 2 ideas. Then come back and write.
Academic Task 1
Clear line and bar charts with units and years. Pick one chart and write an overview plus two groups. ourworldindata.org
Real tables and time series. Select highs, lows, and one contrast. Do not list every cell. ons.gov.uk · data.worldbank.org
Two dates of the same street. Practise replaced, to the north, was added. Try the National Library of Scotland map viewer, or a local historic-map viewer. maps.nls.uk
For General Training Task 1
General Training Task 1
Short letters that complain, request, or explain, in the polite formal register a letter to a manager or a council needs. Read one, then rewrite it as an IELTS letter of about 150 words. Turn its purpose into three bullets of your own (what happened, why it matters to you, what you want done). Give each one a short paragraph. citizensadvice.org.uk
Re-read a real message you wrote to a landlord, an employer, or a friend. Mark the sentence that explains, the one that asks, and the tone you used. That is the letter task with the bullets already covered.
For Task 2
Task 2
Researchers make a claim and then qualify it honestly, in about 800 words. That is the same move you need in a body paragraph. Read one piece, then write a four-line Task 2 plan. theconversation.com
Readers' letters take one side of a public question in a few sentences, with one reason and one example. Pick a letter, state its position in your own words, and add the reason it left out.
Fifteen minutes on one real chart, letter, or short opinion piece is more useful than another page of memorised openings. Then write a full Task 1 of about 170 words, or a Task 2 introduction.
Recap
Practise the job your own Task 1 asks of you, not the other version.
Pick one chart and write an overview plus two groups.
Read a short argument, then write a four-line Task 2 plan.
Next: a full timed Writing mock test, now that you have met both tasks.