In the minds of ESL exam candidates, e ssay writing is one of the most daunting tasks they are required to complete, regardless of the level of the exam, the administering body or the ease with which they themselves use the language. The same applies to students who are asked to write an essay by their teachers at school. In the previous sample essays posted on the blog, the main point I stress is the need to become acquainted with this form of writing (as opposed to writing a letter, review or report, for instance), to get a feel of what authorial voice is and how to organize and progressively express the arguments you wish to make in a coherent manner. Unfortunately, the best way to prepare for exam writing or learn how to write good essays for school is to read as many essays from as many sources as possible, then write as
This is the fifth sample report (Task 1) which follows IELTS guidelines for the Writing section of the Academic Module.
The graph in this case deals with where people get their news from.
The sample written is much longer than what a candidate would have time to draft
(over 300 words), but the reason for this is to give candidates
more words to underline
and add to their list of phrases to use in such types of writing tasks.
First, make sure to have read my post
especially taking note of point number 3 towards the end, so that you know what to do with the samples available on this blog.
Here's the graph:
And here is a sample answer:
The bar chart presents the shift in trends over a two-year period in the way adults stay up to date on current events in the United States. Five different news sources were surveyed for the years 2016 and 2018 and results were published for television, online news websites, social media platforms, printed newspapers and radio bulletins. The overall conclusion from the findings is that online sources are on the rise, though generally speaking, percentages for all five means have not fluctuated dramatically.
The first main point that emerges from the study for the years examined is that television was and still is in 2018 the most popular source of news. Even though a marked decrease of 8% occurred from 2016 to 2018, which is the greatest change in the graph, learning through televised broadcasts about what is going on locally and internationally is by far the most preferred means, a difference ranging from approximately 30% to 40% in contrast to all other means in 2016 and from roughly 15% to 35% in 2018.
Another important detail is the fact that though there is a downward trend in the percentage of adults who watch the news on TV or read about it in newspapers, the number of those who turned to online news and radio news broadcasts in the two years examined rose. Radio news had the smallest increase by one percent, whereas news gathered from social media platforms increased from 18% to 20%. The most preferred online news sources were news websites which showed the greatest increase of all news sources in the graph, and which present an increase in viewer numbers from 28% in 2016 to 33% in 2018.
In sum, what is clear is that the combined percentages of those who stay informed by way of news websites or social media have exceeded those quoted for television, the most preferred news source for the two years analyzed.
Find other IELTS Task 1 reports here:
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For IELTS essays (Task 2) click here:
