Twenty minutes to report what a chart shows — and one sentence, the overview, that decides more of the mark than any other.
You are shown a graph, table, chart, map or process diagram and asked to describe it in your own words in at least 150 words. You are reporting, not interpreting: no opinions, no causes, no recommendations.
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Suggested time | 20 minutes |
| Minimum words | 150 |
| Weighting | One third of the Writing band |
| Register | Academic or semi-formal |
| Format | Continuous prose — never bullet points |
| Opinion | Not appropriate |
Aim for 170–190 words. Under 150 is penalised; far over it eats the time Task 2 needs and usually costs accuracy.
Selecting what matters. A band 8 answer identifies the two or three most significant features and supports them with figures; a band 5 answer lists everything on the chart in the order it appears.
The overview sentence is the highest-value sentence in the whole task. Its absence is the most common reason a fluent, accurate answer scores 6 for Task Achievement.
For a process diagram, replace the trends with stages, and for a map, with changes over time. The overview still comes second.
Prompt: Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
A band 8 answer opens by paraphrasing the prompt, then gives a one-sentence overview of the two or three biggest movements in the data before any detail. That overview sentence is what most band 6 answers are missing.
Overall, the proportion of households with internet access rose steeply across the period, while ownership of older technologies either plateaued or declined.
No. An overview near the start does the job; a conclusion only repeats it.
Enough to support each claim — usually four to six across the answer.
Give each its own body paragraph and use the overview to state how they differ.
Practise this task with real material on the IELTS Writing samples page, or review how it is marked on the Writing scoring page.
Written by Kirill O'Nayd
IELTS expert and educator at TestSucceed, with over a decade of experience preparing candidates for the Academic and General Training modules. Author of the Complete IELTS Preparation Course on Udemy ★★★★★★4.7