Academic Task 1
Two visuals, the same 150 words, and a decision most candidates get wrong. With a worked example and a practice exercise.
An IELTS mixed charts question gives you two visuals of different types, such as a pie chart with a bar chart or a line graph with a table. The word limit does not change, which means each one gets roughly half the space it would otherwise have had.
Nearly every problem with this question comes from one decision. Candidates write a full answer about the first visual and then a second full answer about the other, producing two descriptions that never meet.
The task
Six points, and the first is the one that decides your band.
Ignoring one, or giving it two lines at the end, is treated as failing to address part of the task. This is the single biggest risk in the question.
The overview names the main feature of each visual and, where possible, the relationship between them. Two separate overviews read as two separate answers.
The two visuals are usually related: what people spend against what they earn, or production against consumption. Naming that relationship is what lifts this answer above a description.
It is the simplest division and it works. Give each paragraph roughly equal weight rather than letting the more interesting visual take over.
Half the words for each visual means half the detail. Two or three figures per paragraph, and the smaller differences left out.
The two visuals may use different units or different time periods. Comparing a percentage in one with a raw figure in the other produces a sentence that is simply wrong.
Worked example
The two sets of data below are what a typical mixed question would show. The model covers the introduction and overview.
| Chart 1: source | Share | Chart 2: year | Demand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gas | 41% | 2000 | 310 |
| Renewables | 29% | 2010 | 385 |
| Coal | 18% | 2020 | 460 |
| Other | 12% |
Introduction. The pie chart shows how energy was produced by source in 2020, while the line graph gives total energy demand over the twenty years to that date.
Overview. Gas was the largest single source of energy in 2020, supplying just over 40 per cent of the total, with renewables in second place. Demand meanwhile rose steadily across the whole period, so the country was generating a growing amount of energy as well as changing the mix it came from.
Body paragraph. Turning to demand, consumption grew from 310 terawatt hours in 2000 to 460 in 2020, an increase of roughly a half. The rise was fairly even, with the middle decade accounting for a little under half of the total growth.
The last sentence of the overview links the two visuals rather than treating them separately. That single sentence is often the difference between Band 6 and Band 7 on this question.
Method
Six things that decide whether this task reaches Band 7.
The connection between them is usually visible in ten seconds, and it determines what your overview says.
Roughly seventy words each. If one paragraph is twice the length of the other, you have made a choice the examiner will notice.
Meanwhile, over the same period, against this background. One connecting phrase in the overview does most of the work.
A percentage share and an absolute total are different measures. Describe each accurately and connect them by meaning rather than by number.
The word limit has not doubled. Two figures per visual is often enough, and the temptation to include more is what makes these answers overrun.
Two visuals tempt candidates into thirty. Task 2 carries twice the marks and always will.
Practice
Six questions on the language this task needs. Choose the best option.
Every option below is grammatically possible. The question is which one an examiner would read as accurate and appropriately selective.
That judgement is what Task Achievement and Lexical Resource are measuring in this task.
1How should a mixed charts answer be organised?
One overview, then a paragraph each. Two separate answers is the commonest structure error here. A single overview covering both is what makes it read as one response to one task.
2Which overview sentence does the most work?
The third. It connects the two visuals. The first two are single facts and belong in the body paragraphs, and the fourth says nothing at all.
3One chart gives percentages and the other gives raw totals. What should you avoid?
Comparing them directly. A share and an absolute amount measure different things. Connect them by meaning, not by putting the numbers side by side as if they were comparable.
4Roughly how many words should each visual get in a 170-word answer?
About 70 each. Both visuals are part of the task, so both need real coverage. An unbalanced answer is treated as having addressed only part of the question.
5Which linking phrase best joins the two visuals?
Over the same period. It ties the two visuals to a shared time frame. Secondly merely announces a second topic, and on the other hand falsely implies the two charts contradict each other.
6Correct the error: The pie chart show the sources of energy in 2020.
Shows. A single chart takes a singular verb. With two visuals in the question this slips out easily, and it appears in the very first sentence where it is most visible.
That is the harder half of this task, and it is invisible from inside your own answer. An answer can be accurate in every sentence and still score Band 6 because it described everything instead of choosing what mattered.
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Choosing the better sentence from four is not the same as producing one under time with a chart in front of you.
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A question with two visuals of different types, such as a pie chart and a line graph, presented together and answered in one response.
Yes. Covering only one, or giving the second a token mention, is treated as addressing part of the task and caps the Task Achievement mark.
No. Write one that covers the main feature of each and, where possible, the relationship between them.
No. The minimum is still 150 words, so each visual gets roughly half the detail it would otherwise have had.
Through meaning rather than numbers, using a phrase such as over the same period or meanwhile in the overview.
Full membership
Task Achievement rewards choosing the significant features and reporting them accurately. Nobody can judge their own selection, because the things you left out are exactly the things you did not notice.
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