Writing tool
IELTS Academic Task 1 — phrase bank
Academic Task 1 rewards precise, varied language for describing data. Memorise these chunks until they are automatic, then deploy them in any chart, graph, table, map, or process.
Trend verbs (upward)
Sharp / fast
- • soared
- • surged
- • rocketed
- • shot up
- • jumped
Steady / gradual
- • rose steadily
- • climbed gradually
- • increased modestly
- • edged up
Trend verbs (downward)
Sharp / fast
- • plummeted
- • plunged
- • collapsed
- • slumped
- • tumbled
Steady / gradual
- • declined steadily
- • dropped gradually
- • fell modestly
- • tapered off
Adverbs of degree
Strong change
- • dramatically
- • sharply
- • significantly
- • considerably
- • markedly
Small change
- • slightly
- • marginally
- • modestly
- • gently
No change
- • remained stable at
- • levelled off at
- • plateaued at
- • stayed constant
Comparison structures
Higher / lower
- • X was almost twice as high as Y.
- • Y accounted for roughly a third of X.
- • X exceeded Y by approximately 20 percentage points.
- • Y trailed X throughout the period.
Same as
- • X and Y followed almost identical patterns.
- • Both categories grew at a comparable rate.
Overview rules (this is where bands are won)
- Always include one sentence opening the second paragraph with "Overall, …" or "In general, …".
- Cover the 2 to 3 biggest trends — do not list numbers in the overview.
- Mention the start and end position when describing a trend.
- Group similar items together rather than describing each line separately.
Before / after sentence upgrades
The number of people went up a lot.
The figure surged from 200 to 850 over the period.
It went down then went up.
After a steady decline to 120 in 2018, the figure recovered sharply, peaking at 310 in 2024.
X is more than Y.
Spending on X was approximately three times higher than spending on Y.
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