IELTS Writing - task 1

Question

Essay topics:The charts below show the most popular films by genre for men and women and general ticket sales for different types of films in the USA in 2010.The charts compare the most famous films by genres among men and women and also show the proportion of ticket sales for distinct types of film in America in 2010. Overall, the most popular film type in men was action, whereas romantic comedy was the number-one film for women. In addition, the proportion of tickets sold for action movies was far higher than in other categories. In detail, action films ranked first in terms of their popularity among men with 40 percent, compared to a quarter of women who enjoyed this type of film. Comedy was ranked second with 20 percent in both men and women. Following those, both thriller and science fiction movies were preferred more by men, since the percentages of men watching in those were higher than that of women by 5 percent. Interestingly, western films had the same percentages for both genders at 10 percent. Last, romantic comedy headed the list with one-third of women interested in, as opposed to just 5 percent of men. As regards the pie chart, around half of box-office takings were from action films. Comedies accounted for a quarter of total sales, followed by romantic comedies and thrillers, at 12 and 10 percent respectively. The remaining 5 percent was for the other types of film.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

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IELTS TASK 1: Hints, Tips And Advice

Vocabulary Words For Task 1: Reference Post

Phương Lê Thị · Answer

AlpheccaStars · Answer

You wrote nearly 220 words, while the minimum is 150.

You will not lose points for writing more; however, longer essays generally do not get high scores. There are many reasons.

First, the longer the essay, the more chances you have to make errors, and you will lose points for these errors.

Second, especially in Task 2, your writing may be repetitious and wordy. In Task 1, you are likely writing about everything, rather than following the instructions and picking out only the significant points. This will cost you points.

Third, you will take a lot of the limited time writing, and not have time left over to proofread your essay. You will miss the silly mistakes, and that lowers your score.

Fourth, you will not have enough time to devote to Task 2, and get a lower score there. Task 2 counts twice as much for your overall score.

This is not a very good practice essay - the instructions do not adequately describe the bar chart.

The charts (what type of charts are they? When there is more than one type, describe them in separate sentences.) compare the most famous films (That is not correct. A famous film is something like King Kong or "Gone with the Wind" or "Star wars, episode 3") by genres among men and women and also show (Both charts do not show this.) the proportion of ticket sales for ~~distinct~~ types of film in America in 2010.

Your first paragraph is not good. It does not describe accurately the graphic. You need to tell the examiner that there are two charts. You need to explain the subject matter of each one. For example:

The bar chart compares the percentages of men and women by their favorite film genre. The pie chart breaks down the proportion of ticket sales by film genre in the USA in 2010. There are four named genres in the pie chart (Action, Comedy, Romantic Comedy and Thriller). The bar chart has those plus two more, Western and Science Fiction.

Overall, the most popular film type in for men was action, whereas romantic comedy was ~~the~~ number-one ~~film~~ for women. In addition, the proportion of proceeds from tickets sold for action movies was far higher than in the other categories.

(Include a blank line to clearly separate the paragraphs.)

In detail, (You have not told the examiner what type of chart this is.) action films ranked first in terms of their popularity among men with 40 percent, compared to a quarter of women ~~who enjoyed this type of film~~. (repetitious, delete these repetitions.) Comedy was ranked second with 20 percent in both men and women. Following those, both thriller and science fiction movies were preferred more by men, since the percentages of men ~~watching in those~~ (Incorrect, unnatural, ungrammatical and repetitious) were higher than that of women by 5 percent. Interestingly, westerns ~~films~~ had the same percentages ~~for both genders~~ at 10 percent. Last, romantic comedy headed the list (You already wrote that action films headed the list.) with one-third of women ~~interested in~~, as opposed to just 5 percent of men.

As regards the pie chart, (You have not told the examiner that there is any pie chart.) around half of box-office takings were from action films. Comedies accounted for a quarter of total sales, followed by romantic comedies and thrillers, at 12 and 10 percent respectively. The remaining 5 percent was for the other types of film.

(It is not very good just to list the data on the pie chart.

To get the highest score, you need to compare information in the bar chart with information in the pie chart if possible. The charts are put together for a reason. e.g.

Action films were very popular among both men and women, and they made up nearly half the ticket sales. Even though Romantic Comedy was the most popular selection for women, it generated only 12% of sales, in third place after Comedy at nearly a quarter. The less popular genres, Science Fiction and Westerns were not separated out on the pie chart; they were grouped into the "other" category at 5%.

It is even better if you combine information from both charts in the "detail" paragraph. For example:

In detail, action films ranked first in terms of their popularity among men with 40 percent, and they were in second place for women, at 25%. Nearly half of the proceeds were for this type of film. Comedy was ranked second with 20 percent of both men and women, and took in almost 25% in ticket sales. Romantic comedy, the most popular type among women, (33%) was the least popular with men; only one in twenty rated it as favorite. It was third in ticket sales, with 12%. The less popular genres, with between 5 and 10% of picks, Science Fiction and Westerns were not separated out on the pie chart; they were grouped into the "other" category at 5%.

)

IELTS Writing - task 1

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