Writing Task 1 (Academic): How to Get a Band 7+ for Task Achievement

To achieve the grade you want in IELTS, it is important to understand how the examiners evaluate your English.

In this post, we will focus specifically on how your Writing Task 1 report (we will look at General Training letters in a different post) is evaluated in terms of Task Achievement.

To do this, we're going to do 4 things.

1. 🎯 Define what Task Achievement is.

2. 🔍 Look at how to get a good Task Achievement grade (7+).

3. ⚖️ Compare a good report and a bad report.

4. 📝 Write our own Writing Task 1 Report.

1. 🎯 Defining Task Achievement

• What is Task Achievement?

Essentially, the Task Achievement grade is given based on how well you understand and answer the question. It evaluates the focusedness and the completeness of the response. It makes up 25% of your writing grade, so achieving a good score for Task Response can make a huge difference to your overall grade.

2. 🔍 How to Get a Good Task Achievement Grade (7+)

To achieve a band 7+ for Task Achievement, you need to do the following:

✅ Make sure you understood what the image represents before writing.

✅ Plan before you start writing.

✅ Include an overview which highlights 2-3 of the main features of the image.

✅ Support your overview with some carefully selected details from the image.

✅ Make comparisons where relevant.

✅ Write over 150 words.

✅ Stay focused on the task - describe what's in the image without giving your opinion.

3. ⚖️ Good and Bad Reports Compared

Before we compare the reports, take a look at the following Writing Task 1 question, and plan your own report in response. Hold on these notes; you'll need them later.

Now read this first report, and answer the following questions.

• Is it similar to what you would write?

• Do you think it's a good or a bad report? Why?
  

The chart below shows the number of men and women in further education in Britain in three periods and whether they were studying full-time or part-time.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

The chart shows the number of men and women in further education in Britain in three periods and whether they were studying full-time or part-time.

If you look at the guys, you will see that in 1970/71 there were a million males studying part-time in further education and just below a 100,000 studying full-time education. In 1980/81 there were almost 800,000 males studying part-time in further education and just over 100,000 studying full-time in further education. In 1990/91 there were 900 males studying part-time in further education and 200 studying full-time in further education.

Now let’s talk about the girls. The figures for the number of females studying part-time in further education initially rose slowly and then there was a dramatic rise. The figures for the number of females studying full-time in further education started low and then increased sharply and then increased by just a small amount.

The reason why there are more females than males studying part-time in further education is because they have families to look after and do not have enough time to study full-time. There are also more females than males studying full-time in further education as there are more females who’d like to study and have a career so that they can be independent.

This report, I'm sure you'll agree, isn't very good. I imagine your reports are much better than this!

• What problems did you notice?

👈☹️ Click here to see the problems with this report.

❌ No plan (we can probably assume!)

❌ Copying words directly from the question without rephrasing.

❌ False of wrong information has been given.

❌ There is no overview which highlights the overall trends shown in the chart.

❌ The report contains informal, conversational language.

❌ The writer uses contractions.

❌ One paragraph contains too much irrelevant and insignificant data that has been presented as a kind of list, instead of focusing on and highlighting the most important trends.

❌ One paragraph does not contain enough data to support the information about the chart.

❌ Information has not been compared or contrasted. Instead, figures have been presented about one key area without comparing and contrasting it with another key area.

❌ Personal opinions and judgements have been given.

• Which of these do you think would negatively affect its grade for Task Achievement?

Although all of the above mistakes are serious and should be avoided, the following mistakes in particular would affect this essays Task Achievement grade:

👈☹️ Click here to see the problems with this essay which affect Task Achievement.

❌ No plan (we can assume!)

❌ False of wrong information has been given.

❌ There is no overview which highlights the overall trends shown in the chart.

❌ The report contains informal, conversational language.

❌ One paragraph contains too much irrelevant and insignificant data that has been presented as a kind of list, instead of focusing on and highlighting the most important trends.

❌ One paragraph does not contain enough data to support the information about the chart.

❌ Information has not been compared or contrasted. Instead, figures have been presented about one key area without comparing and contrasting it with another key area.

❌ Personal opinions and judgements have been given.

Now let's take a look at another essay responding to the same question.

• Is it similar to what you would write?

• Do you think it's a good or a bad report? Why? (hint: It's going to be better than the last one!)

The chart below shows the number of men and women in further education in Britain in three periods and whether they were studying full-time or part-time.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

The bar graph displays statistics regarding the number of males and females in higher education in Britain at three different times and if they were studying full or part-time.

Overall, similar numbers of men and women studied in higher education, but a far greater number of people studied part-time rather than full-time. Furthermore, over time, the number of women in both types of education increased, while for men, the number only increased for full-time, but decreased for part-time.

In 1970/71, a thousand men studied part-time - around 10 times more than full-time - but this number dropped to just over 800 before jumping back up to approximately 850. In contrast, while fewer men studied full-time, this number only rose, going from about 100 in 1970/71 to slightly over 200 in 1990/91.

Regarding women, in the seventies roughly 700 studied part time, far fewer than that of men, but this number increased every year, finally reaching over 1000 in 190/91. Women studying full time also saw constant growth, as fewer than 100 studied full-time in 1970/71, but this number had more than doubled by 1990/91, thus reaching the same number as that of their male counterparts.

This report, I'm sure you'll agree, is a lot better than the first one.

• What good things did you notice about it?
  

👈🙂 Click here to see the what's good about this essay.

✅ Key features and data have been carefully selected before writing.

✅ Report is carefully planned before writing.

✅ Words from the question have been paraphrased.

✅ Words which don’t need paraphrasing have been kept.

✅ There is a clear overview which highlights the key features and tells the reader what the report is going to focus on.

✅ The overview doesn’t contain any specific data.

✅ The main body paragraphs explain the key features with relevant, specific data.

✅ The main body paragraphs are focused on 1 topic, clearly indicated in the overview.

✅ Comparisons are made where possible.

✅ Formal language is used throughout.

✅ Words are written separately, not contracted.

✅ Report is between 150 and 200 words.

• Which of these do you think would positively affect its grade for Task Achievement?

👈🙂 Click here to see how this essay would get a band 7+ for Task Response.

✅ Key features and data have been carefully selected before writing.

✅ Report is carefully planned before writing (we can assume!)

✅ There is a clear overview which highlights the key features and tells the reader what the report is going to focus on.

✅ The overview doesn’t contain any specific data.

✅ The main body paragraphs explain the key features with relevant, specific data.

✅ The main body paragraphs are focused on 1 topic, clearly indicated in the overview.

✅ Comparisons are made where possible.

✅ Formal language is used throughout.

✅ Report is between 150 and 200 words.

4. 📝 Writing your Own Writing Task 1 Report

Now it's your turn!

Using your notes from earlier, it's your turn to write your own report in response to this question:

Make sure to keep in mind all of the ✅ points and try to avoid all of the ❌ points!