1. Understand the task
Use this original Academic Task 1 practice to work on selecting useful rankings across mixed units without inventing causation. Write at least 150 words and allow about 20 minutes for the whole task. These length and timing points follow official IELTS Writing format guidance.
Original practice task
Three libraries in one month
The table summarises information about three fictional public libraries during April 2025. Describe the main features and make relevant comparisons. Monthly visits count visits rather than individual people. Satisfaction is the percentage of survey respondents reporting satisfaction, and waiting time is the average number of minutes for computer access. Write at least 150 words.
| Library | Monthly visits | Satisfied survey respondents | Average computer wait |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central | 18,000 | 84% | 12 minutes |
| Riverside | 12,000 | 92% | 5 minutes |
| Hilltop | 6,000 | 88% | 8 minutes |
Allow about 20 minutes including planning and checking. This timer counts up and does not submit your writing.
2. Make a focused plan
A table has no single visual slope or dominant slice. Create the structure yourself by reading each column vertically, then comparing the rankings. Central has the most visits and longest wait but the lowest satisfaction percentage. Riverside has the highest satisfaction and shortest wait. Hilltop has the fewest visits and sits between the other two on the remaining measures.
- Label the three units. Visits are counts, satisfaction is a percentage, and waiting time is measured in minutes. Never average these columns together.
- Choose a useful scale comparison. Central receives three times as many visits as Hilltop and 50% more than Riverside.
- Find an important contrast. The busiest library does not have the highest satisfaction percentage.
- Keep rankings separate from causes. The pattern does not prove that long computer waits caused lower satisfaction.
You can organise the details into use and waiting time, followed by satisfaction. Another sensible approach starts with Central and then compares the two smaller libraries. Avoid one isolated sentence for every cell; the purpose of selection is to turn nine values into a readable account. Because this is a single-month snapshot, use comparison language rather than words such as “rose”, “declined” or “recovered”.
Write your own response
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3. Compare the annotated model
Write first, then compare choices rather than memorising phrases. This original model is an instructional example, not an examiner-marked response; no band score is claimed.
Read the model and paragraph notes
The table compares three public libraries in terms of visits, satisfaction among survey respondents and average waiting time for computer access in April 2025. The libraries are Central, Riverside and Hilltop, and the figures use three different units.
Overall, Central was the busiest library and had the longest computer wait, but it recorded the lowest satisfaction percentage. Riverside combined the shortest waiting time with the highest satisfaction figure, while Hilltop received the fewest visits.
Central recorded 18,000 visits during the month, compared with 12,000 at Riverside and 6,000 at Hilltop. Its total was therefore three times Hilltop’s and one and a half times Riverside’s. Computer users waited an average of 12 minutes at Central, which was four minutes longer than at Hilltop and seven minutes longer than at Riverside.
The pattern for satisfaction differed from the ranking by visits. At Riverside, 92% of survey respondents were satisfied, eight percentage points above Central’s figure of 84%. Hilltop occupied the middle position at 88%, exactly four percentage points from either of the other libraries. Although the library with the longest wait also had the lowest satisfaction percentage, the table does not explain the reasons for these differences.
Why this response is organised this way
- The opening identifies the snapshot and warns the reader that the units differ.
- The overview contrasts service measures with use rather than calling one library “the best”. That judgement is not requested or established.
- The first detail paragraph groups counts and waiting times, using ratios and differences correctly.
- The last paragraph focuses on the survey percentages. “Respondents” is more accurate than “all users”, because the task gives a survey result rather than a census of every visitor.
4. Practise a precise revision
Choose the defensible comparison in each pair, then explain why the alternative goes beyond the table. This activity tests the noun attached to a number as much as the arithmetic.
- A: Central had 18,000 different members. B: Central recorded 18,000 visits.
- A: Riverside’s satisfaction figure was eight percentage points above Central’s. B: Riverside had eight more satisfied people.
- A: Central’s wait was 2.4 times Riverside’s. B: Central’s wait was 2.4 minutes longer.
- A: Central’s longer wait caused dissatisfaction. B: Central had both the longest wait and the lowest satisfaction percentage.
Check the four choices
1: B. A person can visit more than once, and membership is not measured. “Visits” preserves the task’s counting unit.
2: A. Subtract 84 from 92 to obtain an eight-percentage-point gap. Survey sample sizes are unknown, so the number of satisfied people cannot be calculated.
3: A. Twelve divided by five equals 2.4. The difference is seven minutes, not 2.4. Ratios and differences answer different questions.
4: B. The two features appear together, but the table supplies no explanation. Satisfaction could relate to many other aspects of service. A report should describe the association without converting it into a causal claim.
5. Review and try again
Audit your draft column by column. Every value should have the correct unit, and every ranking should match the data. If you wrote “twice”, “half” or “three times”, calculate the ratio again. These compact expressions save space only when they remain accurate.
For a new attempt, write the overview before the introduction. This forces you to decide what matters before you get absorbed in individual cells. After drafting, remove any sentence that merely repeats a figure already used without adding a new comparison. Do not remove so much that a major column disappears; selection should reduce repetition while preserving the overall picture.
Format checked on 15 October 2026 against IELTS Writing format. Task, model, visual material and practice explanations are original. This independent lesson is not an official IELTS test.