IELTS Writing Task 1: Academic Report vs General Training Letter
Writing Task 1 looks completely different in Academic and General Training, but the timing, the minimum word count and the marking criteria are the same. Here is how to structure the Academic report and the General Training letter, with a sample opening for each.
In both IELTS modules, Writing Task 1 is the first of two tasks in the 60-minute Writing test: you should write at least 150 words and spend about 20 minutes on it, because Task 2 is longer and counts for twice as much. In Academic, Task 1 asks you to describe visual information (a graph, chart, table, diagram, process or map) in a short formal report. In General Training, Task 1 asks you to write a letter in response to a situation, in a tone that suits the person you are writing to. Both are marked on the same four criteria, Task Achievement, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy, but what Task Achievement actually demands is completely different in each.
Task 1 at a glance
| Academic | General Training | |
|---|---|---|
| Input | Graph, chart, table, diagram, process or map (sometimes two combined) | A situation plus three bullet points you must cover |
| Output | Objective report of the main features and comparisons | A letter with a clear purpose |
| Minimum length | 150 words | 150 words |
| Suggested time | About 20 minutes | About 20 minutes |
| Register | Formal, impersonal; no opinions | Formal, semi-formal or informal, matched to the recipient |
| Task Achievement focus | Overview, key features, accurate data, comparisons | All bullets covered, consistent tone, clear purpose |
Timing and word count: what 150 words really means
150 words is a minimum, not a target. Fall short and Task Achievement is penalised. A comfortable range is 170 to 200 words; beyond about 220 you are spending Task 2 time on the task that is worth half as much. A sensible split of the 20 minutes is three minutes analysing and planning, fourteen writing and three checking.
The weighting matters more than most candidates realise. Task 2 counts double, so Task 1 contributes roughly a third of your Writing band. A band 6 on Task 1 with a band 7 on Task 2 lands around 6.5, which is why Task 1 is the place to be efficient and accurate rather than ambitious. The band score calculator shows how the Writing band then combines with your other three components.
What Task Achievement means in each module
In Academic, Task Achievement asks whether you have selected the main features of the visual, reported them accurately, made relevant comparisons and, above all, given a clear overview. It does not reward describing every number, and it actively penalises opinions or explanations of why the data looks the way it does. In General Training, Task Achievement asks whether you have covered all three bullet points, kept a tone appropriate to the recipient from the first line to the last, and made the purpose of the letter clear. Missing one bullet, or mixing registers, is the most common way to lose marks here.
The Academic report: a four-paragraph structure
- Introduction (one or two sentences). Paraphrase the task: what the visual shows, where, when and in what units. Do not copy the question wording; the examiner does not count copied text towards your word total and it shows no lexical range.
- Overview (two or three sentences). State the big picture without numbers: the main trend, the largest and smallest categories, the overall change from start to end, the number of stages in a process, or the biggest transformation in a map.
- Details, part one. Group the data logically, for example the categories that rose, or the first half of the period, and support with figures.
- Details, part two. The rest: the categories that fell, the second half of the period, and the comparisons between groups.
Why the overview sentence matters
Examiners treat the overview as central to Task Achievement. A report that lists every figure accurately but never states the main trends is judged as not having fully addressed the task, and in practice this is the single most common reason an otherwise competent report stalls at band 6 or below on this criterion. An overview is a statement of the main features without data, for example: "Overall, consumption of all three fuels rose over the period, with gas overtaking coal as the dominant source by the end." It can sit after the introduction or at the end of the report; after the introduction is safer because it cannot be forgotten if you run out of time.
The language of the report is a narrow and learnable set: trend verbs and nouns (rise, fall, fluctuate, peak, plateau), comparatives and superlatives, approximations ("just under", "roughly a third"), time expressions, "while" and "whereas" for contrast, and the passive for describing processes. Keep one tense per time frame: past for dated data, present for processes and undated charts, future forms for projections.
Sample opening (Academic)
Task: the line graph shows the percentage of households in one city with three types of internet connection between 2005 and 2025.
"The line graph compares the proportion of households in one city that used dial-up, broadband and mobile internet connections over a twenty-year period from 2005 to 2025. Overall, broadband and mobile access rose substantially while dial-up almost disappeared, and by the end of the period mobile had overtaken broadband as the most common type of connection."
Two sentences, 58 words, and the examiner already has a paraphrased introduction and a complete overview. Everything that follows is detail.
The General Training letter: structure and tone
The task gives you a situation and three bullet points to cover, and tells you who the letter is for. The recipient decides the tone, and the tone decides everything from the greeting to the sign-off.
| Tone | Recipient | Greeting and sign-off | Language features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Formal | Someone you do not know, or an organisation | "Dear Sir or Madam" with "Yours faithfully"; "Dear Mr Patel" with "Yours sincerely" | No contractions, full forms, polite requests ("I would be grateful if...") |
| Semi-formal | Someone you know by name but not closely: a manager, landlord, neighbour | "Dear Ms Alvarez" with "Kind regards" or "Best regards" | Polite but warmer; limited contractions acceptable |
| Informal | A friend or family member | "Dear Sam" or "Hi Sam" with "Best wishes", "Take care" or "Love" | Contractions, phrasal verbs, conversational openers and closers |
A reliable structure is: greeting; an opening that states the purpose in one sentence (in an informal letter, one friendly line first and then the purpose); one short paragraph per bullet point, in the order given; a closing line that says what you expect or want to happen next; sign-off and name. You are expected to invent details such as dates, order numbers and names, and doing so makes the letter more convincing. What the examiner checks across the whole letter is consistency: a formal complaint that ends with "Cheers" loses marks for Task Achievement no matter how good the grammar.
Sample opening (General Training)
Task: you recently bought a piece of furniture online, but it arrived damaged. Write to the company. Describe what you ordered, explain what is wrong with it, and say what you would like the company to do.
"Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing to complain about a bookcase that I ordered from your website on 2 October (order number 48213) and which was delivered to my home yesterday in a damaged condition. The item in question is the oak three-shelf unit from your Nordic range, for which I paid in full at the time of ordering."
For comparison, the same purpose in an informal letter to a friend would open quite differently: "Hi Lena, Hope you're well! I'm writing because I've finally sorted out the dates for the trip and wanted to check they work for you before I book anything." Same structural job, opposite register.
The other three criteria, shared by both modules
- Coherence and Cohesion: clear paragraphs with one job each, logical order, and linking that is natural rather than mechanical. In a report this means grouping data sensibly; in a letter it means one paragraph per bullet.
- Lexical Resource: accurate collocation and some less common vocabulary. For reports, that is the language of data; for letters, it is the vocabulary of the chosen register.
- Grammatical Range and Accuracy: a mix of simple and complex sentences with a high proportion error-free. Comparatives, relative clauses and passives come naturally to a report; conditionals and polite modals ("I would appreciate it if you could...") come naturally to a letter.
Task 1 checklist
Academic report
- Introduction paraphrases the task rather than copying it.
- Overview states two or three main features with no numbers.
- No opinions, reasons or speculation about the data.
- Figures, units and dates are accurate and quoted selectively.
- At least one comparison between categories or periods.
- One tense per time frame, used consistently.
- At least 150 words, ideally 170 to 200.
General Training letter
- All three bullet points covered, each in its own paragraph.
- Tone matches the recipient from greeting to sign-off.
- Purpose stated in the first paragraph.
- A clear request or next step before the sign-off.
- Invented details are specific and plausible.
- At least 150 words, ideally 170 to 200.
Get your Task 1 marked properly
Fleydo's one-to-one IELTS preparation covers both Academic and General Training, with real-format mock tests marked against the four Writing criteria by native English-speaking teachers who are Band 8.5+ certified IELTS specialists. Start with a free trial lesson and bring a Task 1 you have already written; you will leave with an honest band estimate and the three changes that would lift it.
