Academic Task 1
No data, no trends, and the most predictable grammar in the whole writing test. With a worked example and a practice exercise.
An IELTS process diagram shows how something is made or how a natural cycle works. There are no figures to compare, so the trend language that carries most Task 1 answers is useless here, and a different set of tools takes over.
This is the most predictable question in the writing test. Almost every sentence will be a present simple passive joined by a sequencing phrase, which means it can be prepared for with more certainty than anything else in Task 1.
The task
Six points, and the grammar is not negotiable.
The beans are collected, washed and dried. Who does it is rarely shown and never matters, so the passive is the natural form from the first stage to the last.
How many stages there are, where the process begins and where it ends, and whether it is linear or cyclical. That is your entire overview, and it is compulsory.
A linear process has a start and a finish. A cyclical one returns to its beginning, and saying so is a significant feature rather than a detail.
First, next, once this is complete, at this stage, the following step involves, finally. Vary these, because a paragraph of then is the commonest weakness in the task.
The diagram gives the order. Your paragraphs follow it exactly, which removes any planning decision beyond where to break between paragraphs.
Verbs with no object have no passive. The water is evaporated and the process is occurred are both impossible. Use the water evaporates and the process occurs.
Worked example
The stages below are what a typical process diagram would show. The model covers the introduction, overview and first stages.
| Stage | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1 | Fruit harvested and delivered to the factory |
| 2 | Washed and inspected; damaged fruit removed |
| 3 | Crushed and the juice extracted |
| 4 | Heated to kill bacteria, then cooled |
| 5 | Bottled, labelled and stored |
| 6 | Distributed to shops |
Introduction. The diagram illustrates the process by which fruit juice is produced and prepared for sale.
Overview. There are six main stages in the process, beginning with the harvesting of the fruit and ending with distribution to retailers. The process is linear rather than cyclical, and the middle stages take place entirely within the factory.
Body paragraph. In the first stage, the fruit is harvested and transported to the factory, where it is washed and inspected so that any damaged pieces can be removed. Once this is complete, the remaining fruit is crushed and the juice is extracted. The juice is then heated in order to destroy any bacteria present, before being cooled ready for bottling.
Every verb describing the process is a present simple passive, and no two sentences begin the same way. Those two things together are most of the mark.
Method
Six things that decide whether this task reaches Band 7.
The number goes straight into your overview, and knowing it tells you how to divide the body paragraphs before you write a word.
Collected, washed, heated, cooled, filtered, crushed, dried, transported, packaged, stored. A short list covers nearly every diagram the test uses.
Technical terms on the diagram should be used as given. Ordinary words can and should be rewritten in your own language.
Usually where the material changes location or state. Two body paragraphs is standard whatever the number of stages.
A process that returns to its start is a feature of the diagram, and stating it is worth a sentence in the overview.
What you know about how juice is really made is irrelevant. Describe only the stages shown.
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.
1Correct the error: In the second stage, the fruit washed and inspected.
Is washed. The auxiliary has been dropped. Without is, the sentence reads as an active verb and says that the fruit washes something else.
2Correct the error: The water is evaporated in the heat of the sun.
Evaporates. Evaporate takes no object here, so it has no passive. The same applies to occur, happen, rise and fall.
3Which is the better overview for a process diagram?
The second. An overview for a process names the number of stages and the start and end points. The first is the body paragraph, the third is an opinion, and the fourth is the introduction.
4Which sentence uses sequencing language best?
The second. It joins three stages with one subordinate clause and varies the sentence opening. The first repeats then, and the third strings clauses together with and.
5What tense should a process diagram answer use?
Present simple passive. A process describes what happens generally rather than what happened once. Use the past only if the diagram is explicitly historical.
6The final arrow returns to the first stage. What should you say?
That it is cyclical. Whether a process is linear or cyclical is one of its significant features, and the overview is where significant features belong.
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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The present simple passive throughout, unless the diagram describes something explicitly historical.
The number of stages, where the process starts and finishes, and whether it is linear or cyclical. No individual stages.
Four: introduction, overview and two body paragraphs, broken at a natural point in the process.
Sometimes, and for verbs with no object you must. The water evaporates is active and correct, because nothing is done to the water by anyone.
No, and outside knowledge is a liability. Describe only what the diagram shows.
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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