IELTS Aid (Practice Essays)

The graphic information illustrates the production of a biofuel called ethanol. This essay will describe the step-by-step process from harvesting the raw materials to distribution to different vehicles. Overall, there are 5 steps to complete the whole cycle.  First, plants and trees grow and produce energy from sunlight and carbon dioxide. The raw materials such as plants and trees are harvested. Then, the harvested plants are pre-processed using a machine called grinder. The grinder will break down the plants into smaller pieces. After this, the processed materials are now called cellulose. These cellulose will go through another process where it would be broken down into sugars. Microbes will finally be mixed into the sugars and the biofuel called ethanol will be produced. The ethanol will then be used or distributed to various modes of transportation such as cars, trucks, and airplanes which will emit carbon dioxide for plants to use again.

The pie chart illustrates the percentage of what Anthropology graduates from one university did after their graduation. The table reveals the earned income they make after 5 years’ work according to three kinds of employment. Overall, in the first graph, most of the graduates worked fulltime after finishing university while the table shows that those who rendered work for 5 years earn a different range in payment in various work sectors.   According to the pie chart, among the six destinations provided, a little over half of the alumni went straight on to working fulltime. Part-time workers garnered the second place with 15%. Surprisingly, the rate of unemployed graduates came in third with 12%. Two sections, full-time postgrad study, and unknown, have the same 8% result while only 5% of the responders said that they work part-time while studying postgrad.   As for salaries, ten and 35 percent of private employees earn from 25 thousand to almost 75 thousand dollars. In con...

Sample report: The bar chart compares a country’s total export earnings in billion dollars in five different products in 2015 and 2016. The table reveals how each products’ value in percentage changed in those two years. Overall, the first graph presents that the country’s earnings in exported products rose in 2016 except for gems and jewelry. The table reveals though that four out of five categories grew in percentage value by 2016. From the bar graph, during both years, petroleum products sold more than the other categories; while textiles ranked the lowest. A considerable climb in earnings can be noticed for the majority of the products especially with textiles which jumped from a little over 25 billion dollars to about 31 billion. In contrast, gems and jewelry had a loss of around 3 billion dollars from its initial collection of approximately 43 billion. Agricultural products showed almost no change in both years with roughly 30 billion dollars. As for the ta...

English spelling can be really daunting and intimidating. If you try to look up for 'rules' in spelling over the web, you'll be overwhelmed with how many rules there are and their exceptions. Although memorising these technicalities can be helpful, it is not really advisable. Leave the memorising part to expert linguists! Here are some of the rules I have gathered from research. So here are 6 (sort of) easy spelling rules/guides to get you one step closer to English spelling mastery! 1.       Use i before e, except after c, or when sounding like “ae” For example: a.       i before e: believe, achieve, piece b.       except after c: receive, ceiling, perceive c.       except when c sounds sh: proficient, ancient, efficient d.       except when ie sounds like “ae”: neighbor, eight, foreign 2.       C can say /k/ or /s/...

Describing numbers (statistics/ proportion/percentages): Example sentences provided are based on the graph below. 1.       The easiest technique is to describe the specific number as it is. For example: a.       60 billion dollar worth of petroleum products were exported in 2015. b.       There is a 3% rise in the change in the value of petroleum products from 2015-2016. 2.       Use fractions (recommended when describing main features) For example: The export earnings of textiles were only two-sixths of the value of petroleum products sold in 2016. 3.       Use vocabulary of approximation To avoid sounding repetitive, you can use words that can describe data in a more flexible way. Common examples: under, less than, nearly, almost, close to, about, approximately, around, above, more than, just over, considerably more than, ...

Introductory expressions •         The graph/table shows/indicates/illustrates/reveals/represents... •         It is clear from the graph/table that… •         It can be seen from the graph/table that… •         As the graph/table shows,... •         As can be seen from the graph/table,... •         As is shown by the graph/table,... •         As is illustrated by the graph/table,... •         From the graph/table it is clear that… Describing trends VERBS Upward trend : increase, rise, go up, grow, climb, jump, leap, skyrocket, peak, boom, expand, soar, improve, and shot up. Downward trend: decrease, fall, decline, go down, slump, reduce, decline, drop, dip, plummet, plunge...

REPORT STRUCTURE: Paragraph1: Paraphrased topic + Overall/Overview (if there are two or more graphs, you need to explain the main data of each graph in one sentence) P2: 1st detail mentioned in the overview if you only have one graph (Details of the first graph, if you have two or more graphs) P3: 2 nd detail from the overview if you only have one graph (Details of the second graph if you have two or more graphs P4: Strange information like a different trend or an abnormal data seen in the graph. (This can be rare) Sample essay: The graph presents the total number of British male and female students who are studying fulltime and part-time. It shows that the study was conducted once every ten years from 1970/71 to 1990/91. As can be seen, part-time education is more preferred by both genders in all periods. Also, in every period, there is an increase in students in both education category but the huge jump was recorded during the first decade of the stu...

This blog will explain how to achieve a good score in one of the band descriptors in the first IELTS Academic Writing task. According to the public band descriptor, a high score is given if: the output fully satisfies all the requirements of the task; clearly presents a fully developed response (Band 9)  covers all requirements of the task sufficiently; presents, highlights and illustrates key features/bullet points clearly and appropriately (Band 8)  covers the requirements of the task; presents a clear overview of main trends, differences or stages ; clearly presents and highlights key features/bullet points but could be more fully extended (Band 7) How to get your desired band score? Follow the instructions in the task carefully.  Here's a step-by-step guide. 1. You must paraphrase the given topic sentence. Don't forget that using the same words from the task topic is not allowed. 2. SUMMARISE the information by selecting and reporting the main fe...

Sample report: The visual data represents the generation and use of electricity of ten countries in 2014. Overall, the electrical production slightly exceeded the consumption in all countries except Germany. The top countries that manufactured electricity the most were China, the United States, and Russia. China registered an electricity generation of almost 5,400 (billion kWh). A rate that is two times bigger than Russia and a thousand kWh more than America. The lowest electricity production was in the Republic of Korea with just 485.1 billion kWh. As for electrical consumption, the top countries were the same. The rate gaps of the production and use were all minimal. Moreover, the country with the lowest electricity utilization was also the Republic of Korea. It should be highlighted though that one country, Germany, showed a different graph. Among all ten countries, this nation consumed more electricity that its production. The production was about 530 billion ...

Sample: The visual represents the proportion of houses in England and Wales that are owned and leased from 1918 to 2011. Overall, it can be seen that these two categories consistently showed opposing trends. In 1918, a huge gap between rented houses and owned houses is noted. More than two-thirds of households were rented during this year. This gap can be noticeable until 1961. Although it should be mentioned that even though there were more houses that were rented during these years, a decrease in percentage can also be seen. A drop of almost ten percent was reported as time went by. Owned houses, however, increased in rate from about 22% in 1918 to 50% in 1971. The growth was consistent until it reached its peak in 2001 at almost 70%. As with the first data, the rise of the rate was almost parallel to the rate of the decline of rented houses in England and Wales over the years. The differences between the proportion of owned and leased houses during the...

Sample: The visual data illustrates the population of British males and females pursuing graduate studies full time and part time in three school years. From the graph, it can be seen that there are more people who pursue further education partly and between genders, more men enroll in graduate schools. Looking at the data, a growth in the number of full time students in both genders can be noted. It is important to highlight though that more women showed interest in regular graduate studies from 1980/81 and 1990/91. However, in the year 1990/91, the quantity of male students was on the same level as women at roughly 200 thousands. As for irregular students, different trends can be seen for both genders. For men, a downward line can be noted. In 1970/71, an approximate 1000 men attended graduate studies before it descended value to a little over 800 in 1980/81 and 1990/91. On the other hand, women climbed from an estimated 700 thousands in the first year to 1200 in th...

Sample: Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing this letter as a response to the post I have read in your newspaper about awarding an exceptional individual who has given a great deal of help and support to our community. With this in mind, I believe I know a person who deserves to be recognized for her work. I am talking about none other than Ms. Natalia River, the Guidance Counselor of Brookside High School. As a Guidance Counselor to the youth in our community, I strongly think she has been doing her best to be the role model for not only the youngsters in our community but also the adults. Recently, she has launched an outreach program for our out-of-school youth. This program aims for these individuals to learn a technical skill for free. One of the offered courses here is web designing. These students, after finishing the course, would be able to utilize this newly-learned skill to be able to apply to companies in need of this technical comput...

Sample: Dear James, Thank you for looking after my house while I'm away. I can't tell you how happy I was when you said you'll do it. Anyway, I have left the house key under the rug of the rocking chair on the porch. Please be careful not to misplace this because I have no spare. The plants need not be watered too often so you don't have to worry about that. For my cat, Lucy, she must be fed at least twice a day. Her food is stored under the sink and her bowl is just under the table in the kitchen. She enjoys the company of other people so I think you don't have to be afraid of her unless you have allergies. As for the mail, leave them beside the telephone in the living room. If there are emergencies of some sort, don't hesitate to contact me thru email. I really can't thank you enough for doing me this huge favor. See you after 2 weeks. Word Count: 168

Sample essay: The visual data presents the forested areas of six regions around the world in millions of hectares from 1990 to 2005. Overall, it can be seen that most of the woodlands have decreased in the area size and that Europe and Oceania have the widest and smallest measurement. To explain in detail, Africa, Oceania, and South America's forests have seen a noticeable decline in the total number of the area covered with trees in 2005. Surprisingly, an opposite trend can be noted in Asia and Europe. In the past years, these countries have seen a gradual increase in the size of their forests from 576 to 584 (in millions of hectares) in Asia and 989 to 1001 in Europe. It should also be mentioned that one area, North America, despite a reduction of 3 million hectares from 1990 to 2000, maintained its forested area size to 705 million hectares in 2005, respectively. Word Count: 152

Sample: The visual information exhibits the regularity of Americans dining out at fast food restaurants from 2003 to 2013. Looking at the data, in 2003, less than 5% of Americans eat out daily. This number is almost equal to the total number of Americans who never dine out in these places. Another highlight is that 3 out of 4 Americans preferred to eat at restaurants once a week, which gained the highest percentage among all the other categories. Surprisingly, people who visit these kinds of restaurants once or twice a month almost showed the same percentage, about 30, to the ones who eat out one time a week. In addition, an average of 12-17% of individuals opt to eat junk food a few times a year and several times a week. Fast forward to 2013, a similar trend can be seen wherein fewer Americans choose to dine at fast food restaurants every day while the others do not at all which is around less than 5%. On the other hand, citizens who eat junk food once or twice a month ...

Sample essay: The maps compare the physical features of Islip town center at present and its proposed refurbishment in the future. It can be highlighted from the visuals that there will be a lot of significant changes made in this area and that only a few establishments will remain. Looking at both maps, it can be seen that there will be commercial, residential and roadway improvements. At present, there are a few shops in between the main road and also some housing below the shops and near the school. In the proposal, the center will have a dual carriageway that will surround all the commercial buildings to be constructed in the center, making them more accessible. The main road will become a pedestrian road that will be next to a bus station, a shopping center, a carpark, and new housing. These buildings will be replacing the shops located on the northern side of the center. The shops below the main road will be unchanged. The school will remain in its original...

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. It is sometimes said that people should be encouraged to get married before they are 30, as this is best for the individual and for society. Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words. Sample essay: It has been believed by many that it is more ideal for individuals to be in holy matrimony before the age of 30. This custom, which is still apparent in some cultures, is thought to benefit both the people and their community. Although it can be true that positive effects can be noted, I strongly think that no age is ideal when it comes to marriage. Traditionally speaking, many people from before agree that starting a family at an early age is fundamental for some reasons. For one, humans’ physical strength and power deteriorate as we get older. As such, it is more appropriate for women to bear children and...

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. Your local hospital has advised for people to do unpaid work helping at the hospital. You would like to do some work at the hospital in your free time. Write a letter to the hospital. In your letter •         Explain why you would like to do unpaid work at the hospital •         Say what type of unpaid work you would be able to do •         Give details of when you would be available for this work Write at least 150 words. You do NOT need to write any addresses. Begin your letter as follows: Dear Sir or Madam, Sample letter: Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing to inquire about an advertisement I saw posted on a newspaper last Sunday that mentioned about your hospital looking for volunteers to work part-time. I am very much interested and willing to be a part of this. I am a univers...

This is a sample graph in the Cambridge Official IELTS guide book. It can be found on page 94 in the first chapter of the Writing skills unit. Sample response: The line graph provides data on the increase of car, train, bicycle and other public transport traffic in the Netherlands for five decades since 1950. According to the graph, all categories increased in value, in percentage, especially car traffic which showed the most significant rise over the years while the other public transport systems have always had the smallest proportion. In 1950, all modes of transportation were the same percentage. Within the first decade, there was a noticeable 20% climb in the number of car usage. The rate of growth of car traffic continued greatly year after year until it reached its peak at 140% in 2000. Train and bicycle traffic rose to an almost similar rate of about 8% while the other modes of transport showed the slowest gain to less than 5%. From 1960 to 1970, the percentag...

The line graph provides information about the typical carbon dioxide emissions of an individual in metric tonnes in four European countries every ten years from 1967 to 2007. Overall, it can be noted that among the four nations, the United Kingdom exceeded the carbon dioxide emissions per person from that of Sweden, Italy and Portugal despite the decreasing trend it exhibited throughout the years. From 1967 to 1997, Portugal and Italy showed a continuous rise in the average release of gas per body with less than 2 and 5 metric tonnes to almost 6 to 8 metric tonnes, respectively. This number has been constant until 2007. In the UK, however, the total gas released by Brits was slightly higher than the Swedes in 1967. Nonetheless, a notable gain can be seen in Sweden after a decade. This upsurge did not go long as the years went by because lesser gas was emitted since then. Word Count: 154