IELTS Writing Task 1: 'water cycle' essay

Several people have asked me for the full essay for this question, so here it is!

The diagram below shows the water cycle, which is the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth.

The picture illustrates the way in which water passes from ocean to air to land during the natural process known as the water cycle.

Three main stages are shown on the diagram. Ocean water evaporates, falls as rain, and eventually runs back into the oceans again.

Beginning at the evaporation stage, we can see that 80% of water vapour in the air comes from the oceans. Heat from the sun causes water to evaporate, and water vapour condenses to form clouds. At the second stage, labelled ‘precipitation’ on the diagram, water falls as rain or snow.

At the third stage in the cycle, rainwater may take various paths. Some of it may fall into lakes or return to the oceans via ‘surface runoff’. Otherwise, rainwater may filter through the ground, reaching the impervious layer of the earth. Salt water intrusion is shown to take place just before groundwater passes into the oceans to complete the cycle.

(156 words, band 9)

Comments

[niam]

thank you very much

[Simon]

No problem Niam.

[Judy]

Hi Simon!
I have a question for you.
why did you write 'oceans' not 'ocean'?
I tried to find the difference between the two,but I couldn't find, so could you please explain to me?

Also, I had my speaking test today, so I want to share with many students who will take test tomorrow.
In part 1, the questions was about
city/town where I live now...and the other questions(sorry I can't remember at the moment)
Part2 was..'describe a kind of book you like' -why, when did you start to read that kind of book, how often..
Part3 was..about the reading and book (the reason shy people read a book, what are the benefits, what's the government responsibility about public library...etc.)

I hope this would be helpful for people.
And Simon! I always appreciate you for this site & your e-book :)

[Judy]

Sorry, in the part 3....it's "the reason why..." not "the reason shy..."

[Simon]

Hi Judy,

Thanks for sharing your exam questions.

You could write "ocean" or "oceans". I chose the plural because the diagram represents what happens to water in all of the oceans, not just one.

[Drew]

Hi,

Excuse me, I'm just wondering if there's a tiny mistake in the introductory paragraph 'water passes from ocean to air TO land' ? I guess it should be AND instead of TO so that would be 'water passes from ocean to air AND land'. Am I right?

Thanks!

[Simon]

Hi Drew,

I wrote 'to' on purpose. Imagine you visit 3 cities, you can write:

"I travelled from Edinburgh to Manchester to London."

Using 'and' changes the idea slightly, but it's also fine.

[alul]

Hi Simon,
i need to get band seven and i found your material very helpful,i would recommend it to everyone,i just feel cofused about diagrams ,when can i use active and passive tenses?

[Simon]

Hi Alul,

Have a look at this lesson:

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2011/02/ielts-writing-task-1-describe-a-process-1.html

[James]

Thanks brother.

[nisma faridoon]

what do you mean by "at the second stage labelled precipitation on the diagram shows that water falls from rain or snow"please explain

[Simon]

Hi Nisma,

"At the second stage, labelled ‘precipitation’ on the diagram, water falls as rain or snow."

This means that I think 'precipitation' (the label inside the rain on the diagram) is the second stage in the cycle. Precipitation means rain or snow.

[aegean]

Hi,Simon
You once said the examiner wants to see comparisons rather than describing figures separately in graphs,charts and tables.Well, what do examiners expect to see in process diagrams or maps?What do they prefer to see in maps or diagrams?

Thanks,Simon

[Simon]

Hi Aegean,

For some diagrams and maps you need to compare things. For a process diagram, you can't compare anything - the examiner wants to see a step-by-step description.

Have a look through all of my lessons and you will find advice and full essays for diagrams and maps.

[aegean]

Thanks for your advice.I will work on that.
Thanks,Simon :)

[I don't fully understood about ur views]

I don't fully understood about ur views

[sneha]

I donot fully understood abt ur topic can u explain it clear

[Degu]

This is what I tried. I usually include concluding paragraph in my task 1 writing, because I don't feel comfortable when I don't include it and I put the overview in the introduction - one sentence. Is it a good idea?

The figure illustrates the natural process of water circulation in the ground, the oceans and air. Overall, what goes up from the earth comes back to it. There are four main stages in this process, beginning with evaporation and ends with joining to the oceans.

First, water evaporates to the air in the form of water vapor,eighty percent of which comes from the oceans. Second, the water vapour condenses and forms cloud at a certain distance from the ground and later precipitates back to earth as tiny water droplets called rain.

Finally, the water that reaches the ground surface, eventually joins the oceans in two different ways. One is it directly run off to the ocean and second,it percolates in to the ground water and gradually mix with the ocean water by taking some minerals, such as salt from the ground.

In summary, nature balances its water in a continuous process of evaporation,condensation and precipitation.

[Diana]

hey simon i am doing a project on the water cycle at school. i found this essay so easy to understand, which helped me. I also used the diagram that you have posted and created a 3d model of it. thank you this was extremely helpful!

[Simon]

Sounds good Diana! I'm glad you found my lesson helpful.

[ameachi chiafor]

the diagram is not advanced as the modern diagram as of now

[Behnam]

Hi Simon
I'm confused!

"Otherwise, rainwater may filter through the ground, reaching the impervious layer of the earth."

I thought that "may be filtered" should be correct; why did I make this mistake?
(please explain it grammatically!)

I'm confused!
(Which one is subject? ground or rainwater?!)

[sue]

thx

[Mehdi Sufi]

Hi Simon
water falls or waterfalls?

[arnoldzhen]

The picture shows how water recycles from sea to clouds, then the surface of the Earth, and finally back to ocean.

This continuous process involves several key steps including evaporation, cloud formation, raining and surface runoff. Sun plays an important role in this movement.

First, ocean contributes about 80% of total water vapors in air. Sea water absorb the heat of sun and becomes condensed water vapor. Secondly, the cluster of vapor moves to the sky of land, clouds thus formed.

The third step is called precipitation. Water in the cloud falls into mountains, lakes and grounds. Finally, the melting snow and ice in the mountains will run through the surface of the earth into ocean. The water of lakes also run into rivers and back to sea. Salt water of ocean intrudes to the river occasionally and back to sea too.

[Tu]

I wonder why you did not write "from an ocean to air to land" since "ocean" is a countable noun.

[Simon]

Tu,

The phrase "from ocean to air" is similar to phrases like "from person to person", "from hand to mouth" or "from plan to completion".

[tom]

what is water cycle

[ishu]

daigram indicate the information about circulation of water in nature .there are four stages evaporation,condensation,cloud formation.

to commence with,evaporation of wate with the assistance of sun and approsimately 80% of total water vapour take by ocean.Then water vapour is condesed in the sky.As a result , that is converted into clouds.

on the next stage, water fall as a rain or snow.Simultanoiusly, rain or snow precipitate on tge one hand lake or other hand groundwater.Afterthat,the flow of water goes to salt water intrusion without reaching impervious layer.then..............plzzz chek simon ...m ver confused nd could u explaion me last step regarding ocaen nd salt water....

[Dipesh pokhrel]

I wonder if it is a rain cycle not water cycle. You can't can't see any h and o combination or seperation for water cycle

[Joon]

Thank you for sharing

[Shwar]

Hi simon i want to improve my writing and speaking skills, what should i do??