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  • Hello there, IELTS students.

  • In this tutorial, we're going to look at how to describe a pie chart for IELTS Academic

  • Task 1.

  • My name is Ben.

  • You know me from IELTS Podcast.

  • This tutorial is divided up in 3 parts.

  • First, we're going to look at the language.

  • Then I want to give you some tips.

  • And then we're going to look at an easy essay template.

  • Four paragraphs, really simple, and it's a good way to prepare for the IELTS.

  • So grab a pen and paper (you're going to need it) because I'm going to give you lots of

  • terms,

  • lots of tips,

  • and I think it would be really beneficial for you if you did actually write these down

  • as you hear them.

  • Because it'll help you to remember them.

  • You'll have them down there on paper as an easy reference.

  • It will improve your listening skills (and of course it will improve your speaking skills

  • because as you write them down, you'll be hearing the perfect pronunciation... Well,

  • native English pronunciation... Even if I do have a little bit of an accent from the

  • North but it doesn't really matter. It's not going to destroy your IELTS speaking exam).

  • Alright, let's get going.

  • So the language for portions.

  • I'm going to give you a variety because you cannot always use the numbers.

  • Because it gets boring and you've got to show a range of vocabulary to pick up points for

  • lexical resource.

  • So if it's "60%" you can say "nearly a third."

  • "nearly a third"

  • If it's "52%" you can say "over a half."

  • "Over a half of all respondents..." or

  • "Over half of all respondents replied 'yes.'" or

  • "Over half of all the respondents were from Scotland."

  • If it's a small percentage (2%, 3%, 1%) you can say "a small fraction."

  • "A small fraction of sales originated in Vietnam." for example.

  • We can also say, "Exactly 30% or students studied economics." for example.

  • If it's around a quarter (24% for example, 26%,) you can say "roughly a quarter of respondents."

  • And if it's around three quarters (75%, 74%, 76%... whatever) you can say "Around three

  • quarters of sales were from Nigeria."

  • (or whatever)

  • Now then.

  • Hopefully you've still got your pen in your hand.

  • I'm going to give you a very useful sentence that you can definitely use when you're describing

  • a pie chart.

  • All you have to do is identify the largest section and the smallest section.

  • And then basically memorize this sentence:

  • "It is clear that x represents the largest portion, whereas y is undoubtedly the smallest."

  • Let me put it in context.

  • "It is clear that education represents the largest portion whereas the environment is

  • undoubtedly the smallest."

  • One very easy sentence and you can use it in every single pie chart essay.

  • ... Well, not "every single." There may be some cases where you cannot use it but it's

  • just a general rule.

  • It's good to have a sentence like that.

  • Now, some more language.

  • We can say "About half the amount of televisions were from Iraq (or wherever)."

  • "Precisely a third of the televisions were sold in Glasgow (wherever)."

  • "Almost a quarter..."

  • "A small fraction..."

  • "A large sector..."

  • Copy all of those down.

  • Use them.

  • Show the examiner that you have a variety of language.

  • You've got a large lexical resource.

  • Now, we're also going to need the language for comparisons.

  • So if we're making comparisons, here are some set phrases. We can say:

  • "Twice as many people prefer Kellogg�s over (I don�t' know) supermarket y own brand

  • (or whatever)."

  • "Nearly four times as many people listen to IELTS Podcast than (what the hell's whatever)..."

  • "Whereas sales for x were just 10%."

  • So I'll just link those together. What we could say is:

  • "In 1955 approximately three quarters were male whereas in 1960 this had fallen to just

  • under a fifth."

  • That's a useful little phrase there, "whereas," especially when we're making the comparisons.

  • Now, if we're following the four-paragraph model, we're going to finish with a summary.

  • Just outlining the overall characteristics of the graph/of the pie chart.

  • Here are some perfect sentences you can use in this final paragraph. We can say:

  • "In all countries observed, the largest amount of sales were seen in Wales."

  • We can say:

  • "Overall the majority of the countries experienced x, y, zed." or

  • "Overall the majority of people interviewed said they preferred beef (or whatever)."

  • Another sentence:

  • "Overall it is clear the amount of sales... Blah, blah, blah."

  • Next one:

  • "To summarize the most marked change is the jump from vegetarianism to veganism (or whatever)."

  • And the final sentence you can use is:

  • "Overall amongst the six regions, five make up the largest expenses followed by three representing the lowest."

  • Or to be a little bit more specific:

  • "Overall amongst the six regions, England and Wales make up the largest expenses followed

  • by Scotland representing the lowest."

  • So another sentence there that you can basically copy and paste and drop into the essay, assuming

  • it is in context.

  • So be careful there; it has to be relevant. You can't just copy-paste it and just dump

  • it in the essay. So make sure it's relevant.

  • Now, we're going to look at some tips.

  • Sometimes, with IELTS Academic Task 1, it's impossible to compare the information.

  • Maybe you've got a table followed by a pie chart, and they just don't correspond.

  • So in this case, what you do is just write a paragraph about the pie chart, and a paragraph

  • about the table.

  • That's it.

  • Next one. Next tip.

  • Avoid stating opinions.

  • Now, imagine we've got a pie chart showing holiday visits to Germany in 1980, and holiday

  • visits to Germany in 2010.

  • And there's been a change; there are more visits nowadays.

  • And maybe we want to say it's because of the popularity of Berlin.

  • Maybe we know because we have a friend in Germany that the change is because Berlin

  • has become very trendy.

  • We do not mention it.

  • We never put our opinion in there.

  • All we have to do is summarize the data. We don't have to put anything of the reason why,

  • unless it's actually in the data.

  • But if it's your opinion and you know why sales have increased, like the prices of oil

  • has increased, or whatever, it doesn't matter.

  • Don't put it in there. Just stick to what's on the paper.

  • Next tip.

  • Check the time frame on the pie chart.

  • Does the pie chart show you information from 1960?

  • In which case, you're going to use the past tense.

  • Does it show you information from the current year?

  • Which you'd use the present.

  • Or is it a forecast?

  • In which case of course, you'll use the future tense.

  • So check the time frame, use the appropriate tense.

  • If you want to pick up more points, extra points, use a passive construction.

  • Grammatical range and accuracy. Show a range of the grammar structures you know.

  • So use a passive construction that's with the verb "to be."

  • The next one, which is very important.

  • Focus on getting the appropriate data from the graph into your writing.

  • I want to go into more detail about this point in the next slides.

  • 2 seconds. The next points.

  • Now, another tip (which is very valuable) especially if you're going to write your pie

  • chart using the four-paragraph model that I'll explain in a few minutes.

  • What you need to do is learn how to paraphrase.

  • It's not a difficult task.

  • What it consists of is reorganizing the information using a different structure, but still it

  • stays the same.

  • So for example, if we have some pie charts and the title is "Holiday destination chosen

  • by Welsh people 1955-2005."

  • Your first sentence in this essay (if we're following this four-paragraph model) will

  • just be a very, very simple paraphrase of the title.

  • We're not complicating things, we're just going to paraphrase it and we've got maybe

  • 10% or 15% of the essay out of the way.

  • And it's a perfectly acceptable introduction.

  • So I'll just go over the title one more time:

  • "Holiday destination chosen by Welsh people 1955-2005."

  • Your first sentence:

  • "The pie chart shows/the pie charts show the vacation preferences of Welsh people over

  • a fifty-year period starting in 1955 and finishing in 2005."

  • Now, a side note here:

  • Learn the nationalities.

  • Learn that people from Vietnam are called Vietnamese.

  • People from England are (obviously) English.

  • From Canada, Canadian.

  • From the United States, generally considered American.

  • This is important because it just gives you more flexibility when you're paraphrasing.

  • Because using the nationality is just saying the same thing, and you can adopt it into

  • different structures.

  • So that just gives you a little bit more flexibility there.

  • Now, those were some tips just regarding your general preparation.

  • Now, if you're actually in the exam, what I would like you to do is follow what I call

  • a three-step prep.

  • This is an adopted process/adopted model that a friend of mine (Dominic).

  • On his blog Dominic: DCIELTS.com. Go check that out. I'll put the links in the post.

  • But here, I've adopted it from that.

  • And it's a very practical process you can use for writing your IELTS Academic Task 1

  • pie chart.

  • First of all, what you do is 3 steps.

  • Step 1. Prepare:

  • Look for the biggest and smallest sections.

  • Analyze the time, the dates, and the tenses, and the measurements.

  • Is it in kilos?

  • Is it in kilos per hour?

  • Is it in square cubic feet?

  • (whatever)

  • Have a look at that data.

  • Also, when you're analyzing see the big picture. Don't go for the details.

  • This is a summarizing task and I want you to just have a look at the overall picture.

  • What is happening?

  • Are sales increasing?

  • Are they falling?

  • Has the portion increased?

  • Has it decreased?

  • And in this step 1, you look at it all and then it's very important that you select and

  • report the main features.

  • Step 2. Organize this information into 2 paragraphs.

  • So following the four-paragraph model, we've got the first paragraph is a paraphrase of

  • the title. And then we've got 2 body paragraphs.

  • And the first body paragraph, what we're going to do is we're going to put the information

  • that we've organized in this step.

  • So here, were going to look for the:

  • Major trends

  • Major groups

  • Exceptions

  • We're going to group similar ideas together.

  • Now, it's going to be the first paragraph...

  • Paragraph 2 will also be similar.

  • These are your 2 body paragraphs where we put the information that we've analyzed in

  • that 2nd step where we're putting it into the paragraphs and we're going to write about

  • it.

  • It's basically deciding what we're going to write about.

  • Then we write the essay using the template.

  • We've got the first... Well, I'll explain the paragraph model in a second...

  • In this stage when we're writing it, remember to check for errors once you've finished.

  • And follow your essay plan.

  • If ideas pop into your head, ignore them. Just follow your plan.

  • It'll keep you calm, it'll keep you on track, it'll keep you within the time limit.

  • So don't deviate from that.

  • Now, that's the three-step plan.

  • Now, we're going to look at the template which we can use to structure the actual final essay.

  • Paragraph 1 will be one sentence. We're just going paraphrase the title.

  • Paragraph 2, groups of information from the organization we did in step 2.

  • Paragraph 3, same groups of information collected from the organization in step 2.

  • Paragraph 4 will be one or two summary sentences showing the major overall trends from the

  • graph.

  • In this stage, we'll use the summary sentences that I talked about at the very beginning.

  • So write these down:

  • Paragraph 1 is the paraphrase of the title.

  • Paragraph 2 and paragraph 3, we're going to just put the groups of information that we've

  • organized previously.

  • And paragraph 4, 2 summary sentences. The major overall trends.

  • So like I said before, the guide was adopted from Dominic Cole's site: dcielts.com.

  • Have a look there. Lots of detailed resources.

  • And also, if you haven't already, I strongly recommend that you go to ieltspodcast.com.

  • Sign up there, leave your email, and you'll get lots and lots of valuable resources.

  • And it's just pure content. Pure step-by-step tutorials that I sent every week to subscribers.

  • So yeah, that's one of the best things you can do to guarantee your IELTS success.

  • If you're having any problems, send me an email. I've helped lots of students. I enjoy

  • helping them.

  • I love it when I get the emails back saying, "I got an 8 and I'm going to Holland (wherever)."

  • So if you're going through a tough time, just keep on working.

  • Keep doing it, and eventually you will get there.

  • Trust me.

  • I've been in similar situations. You just got to persevere.

  • So, all the best.

  • Remember to sign up and send me an email. Tell me how it's going.

  • All the best.

  • Ben.

Hello there, IELTS students.

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