Chinese writing problem diagnosis

Task 1 templates must follow data judgement first.

Turn the IELTS Writing problem into one diagnosable writing step that can be verified through rewriting. The goal is not more templates; it is knowing what to repair first in the next version.

Diagnose one real essay first, then decide what to revise next.

Common mistake

If templates come before chart reading, the overview becomes empty and key comparisons are missed.

What to revise after checking

Rewrite only the overview and one comparison sentence, not the whole report immediately.

Diagnostic evidence

If the report still works after numbers are removed, it is not really describing this chart.

What to confirm before writing

Circle highest, lowest, largest change, shared trend, and outlier first.

Whether overview is specific
Whether data is selected
Whether comparison has objects

Task 1 frames help; template sentences are mostly liabilities

Task 1 does have a stable frame worth memorising: paraphrase the prompt, overview, two detail paragraphs. But sentence-level templates are mostly liabilities: "From the chart we can see that…", "It is clear that…" carry zero chart information, get treated as memorised language, and consume precious space in a 150-word answer. Same test as Task 2: could this sentence sit under any chart unchanged? Then cut it.

Compare: a template overview vs a real overview

Template: "Overall, there are some significant changes over the period." — usable under any line graph, so it is just a placeholder. A real overview must carry this chart's specific headline: "Overall, car ownership more than tripled across all three countries, while public transport use declined steadily, with the sharpest fall in the UK." The Task Achievement 6/7 line sits exactly here: Band 7 requires a clear overview of main trends, and only a sentence written for this chart can describe this chart's main trends.

Where the frame bends by chart type

The four-paragraph frame fits every chart type, but what belongs in the overview changes with the type — this is where one-template-fits-all breaks down.

Trend charts (line/bar): overall direction + biggest change
Static comparison (pie/table): largest, smallest, order of magnitude
Process: start, end, number of stages — trend language left out
Maps: the most changed area + the nature of the change

Worth more practice than templates: data selection

You cannot fit every number in 150 words; Task Achievement tests selection: key compared groups, extremes, crossover points — dropping the unremarkable middle. When diagnosing a Task 1 answer, look at which data was chosen and which must-report figure is missing before judging any sentence quality — a missed headline figure outweighs any grammar slip.

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