IELTS Writing Task 1: look carefully!

It's really important that you take time to notice and select the main features for your description of a graph, chart or diagram.

Look at the table above and a student's summary of main features below.

Overall, it can be seen that the people who used mobile phones for making calls were at the top in all three years. However, it is noticeable that there is no record of Internet usage and video recording in 2006.

I told the student that I thought she had missed some of the key features shown in the table. What main features can you see if you look more carefully?

Comments

[Yusufboy]

From an overall perspective, as years passed by, people tended to use mobile phones more and more for different purposes beyond mere making calls.

[ziaul huda]

It is worth noting that the figure for video recording is the lowest at 9.

[yoyo]

In 2008 where people started to use data plan connecting to internet via mobile phones to search Internet has been going up drastically from 41 to 73 in year 2010. Another feature was record video also has been rose up from 9 to 35 in year 2010.

[Trang]

Overall, the application of mobile phone features increased over the period from 2006 to 2010. It is also worth noting that mobile phone owners used more and more “search the internet” feature

[Nicole]

All date had grown up from 2006 to 2010, whereas the figures for playing game had a 1% dropped from 2008 to 2010.

Thanks, Simon.

[Fida]

Two features may worthy to mention, I assume.
1. Mobile phone deviates from it's own purpose (1%).
2. use as a tool to search internet that increased dramatically.
To me the overall trend for summery may be:

"It is clear that apart from making calls the proportion of using mobile phone for other purposes increased over the time, particularly to search the internet cell phone uses raised dramatically. By contrast, though very slight, its primary purpose i.e. making call dropped."

[Aleksandra Bucholc]

Generally speaking, the main purpose of mobiles remains the calls making with its unchanging frequency. On the other hand, much more popular became playing games and music,then sms usage or taking photos. Finally,searching the internet or recording video what was still not available in 2006, after that it has been developing at the rapidly increasing pace.

[Giagia]

After years, the percentage of people used mobile phone for different purposes increases gradually.

[Aleksandra Bucholc]

Hello Simon,
I have some problems today with sending comments. I wanted to answer today's and yesterday's questions, and while at first it has been written below- your comment has been posted, I saw it on the page, just after writing it, but when I reentered the page, my comment- unfortunately, was not included. I wrote few times the same comments on W1 And W2 page from 2 last days lessons,to send it eventually, but there is still not possible to see it. I don't know why. It is such a pity, I thought that my comments would be a good contribution to our lessons. Anyway I will try to do it again provided that this comment may reach you, perhaps others might be sent as well.
Kind regards,
Aleksandra.

[Mai Anh]

Overall, it can be seen that the percentage of people used mobile for main characteristics increase gradually over the period apart from searching the Internet as well as Recording video features which had increased approximately double and four-fold respectively since 2008.

[Nga Ha]

Overall, it can be seen that mobile still being used mostly for making calls or texting over a period from 2006 to 2010. However, there are more functions are using much more frequently, for instance searching the internet, recording video and playing game

[Fida]

It is clear that apart from its prime purpose i.e. making call, the proportion of using mobile phone increased for other six mentioned features over the time, particularly as a tool to search internet which raised dramatically. By contrast, thought very slight, initiating call by the device dropped.

[Amy]

Overall, it can be clearly seen that most of people use mobile phones for making calls in three years. It is also obvious that the percentage of using mobile phones for the purpose of searching the Internet soared dramatically.

[thangngovan]

Hi Simon and everyone, here is my summary
It is clear that cell phones was used more for almost purposes throughout years later . On the other hand, call- making was still the most popular function while playing music was the least common usage in overall.
I think that, if the table has a lot of column and rows, we just need to pick up the most striking feature of a row, column to say. Could you tell me whether i am right or wrong?

[Gracia]

Overall, it is noticeable that making calls was the most common feature that mobile phone owners used over the 3 year period. Whilst, recording video shows the least among others.

[saleem]

Overall, although it can be seen that the people who used mobile phones for making calls were at the top in all three years, the only this percentage showed decrease specially in last year . However, it is noticeable that there is no record of Internet usage and video recording in 2006.

[Simon]

MESSAGE FROM SIMON:

If your comment doesn't appear straight away, please don't worry. For some reason my website software is holding some comments for me to check before they are published. I've just published several that were being held (e.g. Aleksandra).

If you don't see your comment straight away, it will probably appear the next day.

[Hsao Kham]

Hi ! That is a first time for me to write a comment on these page. Thanks to Simon for have this website for all student to study and also practise in your own letters .

[Hsao Kham]

Overall, on the main feature ,people using the Internet for searching as tool as easy they want .But for some place still cannot using it .To be honest , we can say that only name for the Internet we have known but unable apply properly because of low connection or that is not enough . However , I hope in my country will be develop as others so.

I am sorry for some misusing because I am still learning .

Thanks Simon

[raja]

It is clear that cell phone users used the phone for different functions in three years. It is noticeable that people used phone for online search and record video increased dramatically in 2010

[KW]

Hi Simon,

I have just received my IELTS test result today and I am really glad to achieve the grades I need.

Listening: 8.5
Reading: 8.0
Writing: 7.0
Speaking: 7.5
Overall: 8.0

This is my second attempt and I have improved my overall band from 6.5 to 8.0!

To be honest your website has really helped me to prepare for my ielts test on 8th June. The tips such as keeping introduction simple in Writing, organise paragraphs using Firstly, Secondly, also keeping the conversation simple but flowing in Speaking test worked!

To all of you I'd like to say that it's possible to raise your band by 1 or higher using this website, lots of lots of practice and determination!

Just a tip for Speaking test, keep it simple and not finding bombastic words to impress the examiner just like what Simon said!

All the best!

[HuyHee]

Increase sharply the percent of taking photo, playing game, searching the Internet, and recording video. I think that.

[patil]

hi,simon
i'm writing the comment first time.
mobile phone woners using mobile highly to making calls. internet and record video were no use in 2006 but rarely used by them inthe different two years of period

[HuuNguyen]

Overall, while the propotion of people using the several permanent functions of cellphone such as making phone calls, sending and receiving text message, and taking photos changed slightly, new other features tended to be increased with different paces through the years from 2006 to 2010.

[Harry]

Overall, phone uses for communications, namely phone call making, sending messages and searching the Internet, occupy high and stable proportions, while, for other entertaining purposes, the applications have lower shares except taking photos.

[Huyen Nga]

It is noticeable that people increasingly made use of all cellphone features over the period shown. Additionally, phone calls, photos and text messages kept their positions as the top priorities of cellphone owners.

[Simon]

FROM SIMON:

Great comment from KW above - I hope everyone reads it!

Congratulations KW and thanks for your positive feedback!

...

I'll give you my ideas about the table above in next Thursday's lesson.

[mz]

The table compares the proportion of cell phone users who used their phones for seven different purposes in three separate years.

It is noticeable that back in 2006,2008 and 2010 the commenest reason for using mobile phone was to make calls, whereas recording video was almost the least popular function. The figure for playing games saw the most significant changes over the years shown.

In 2006 and 2008,around 100% of cell phone users owned their phone to make a calls,but this percentage fell by only 1% in 2010.Sending and receiving text messages was the second popular mobile phone function among users. Around 73% of them used this function in 2006, and they increased to 79% users in 2010.Around 66% of owners enjoyed taking photos by their cell phone ,but in 2010 this proportion increased by 10% .

The percentage of owners who used their phone to play games increased considerably from 17% in 2006 to 41% in2010.While there were no data recorded for features like searching the internet and recording video in 2006, between 2008 and 2010 figures for these two features increased by 32% and 26% respectively. Using mobile phone to play music also experienced an increase by 14% between 2006 and 2010

[James Matthews]

Overall, there was a gradual increase in the usage of the majority of mobile phone features during the period. Likewise, making phone calls was the most popularly used of the seven traits.

[Alexander]

Hi simon, Hi everyone!

Thank you for this very helpful site. I have written some task 1 essay about this sample graph. Comments and suggestion would be very much welcome! thank you once again.

The table illustrates the percentage of usage of the different features of a mobile phone in the five year span from 2006 to 2010.

Overall, it is clear that as the years progressed, key features of a mobile phone such as the internet, games, music and video were develop and the degree of its usage have increased.

Firstly, the main feature of a mobile phone which is to make calls, send messages and take a picture had remained stable throughout the years with only a minor discrepancy within the values. For calling, the percentage remained high about 100, with slight fall at end of the year, only 99. For taking photos, the percentage gradually increased from 66 in 2006 reaching to a high of 76 per cent, while sending text messages also increased in a gradual manner from 73 to 79 in 2010.

Secondly, the modern features of a mobile phone such as the game mode and mp3 has also increased significantly. In 2006, there are less people who played games in their phone, only 16 per cent. However, 2 years after it rapidly increased reaching 40 then 41 per cent in 2010. The same can be observed with the Mp3 feature as it started from 12 per cent, then 18 until it reached 26 per cent.

Finally, there was no data on the percentage of internet and video capturing using mobile phone in 2006. But starting 2008, internet usage spiked up from 41 to 73 per cent in 2010, while the video feature increased too from 9 per cent to 35 per cent at the end of year 2010.

Alex

[jennifer]

The graph illustrates the trends in usage of hand phone features in terms if phone calls, messaging, camera, video recordings, games and also internet browsing in 2006, 2008, and 2010. As seen in graph, majority if phone owners uses phone call features throughout the 3 year period,and the rest of the features increases in percentage in each years presented.

In 2006 and 2008 phone calls is the top trending features that phone owners used which rated at 100 s its highest figure in both years but had 1 percent fall in 2010. Messaging was the second trending features followed by camera features, which started at 71 and 66 respectively in 2006 and continued to increased at 2 to 5 percent in 2008 and 2009. Music features is the least used by owners in 2010 even though it started at 12 percent in 2006 and increased to 18 percent in the following years.

The most significant increased in usage of features is internet browsing and video recording which mobile phones during 20006 has no features. Internet briwsing had a dramatic increase to 41 percent and almost doubled in 2010. This trend was also seen in video features, which later on had 9 percent increased in 2008 and had multiplied 6 times higher than the previous year in 2010.

Overall, as the year progresses features if mobile phones were developed and hand phone owners uses these features as the years goes by.

[jennifer]

The graph illustrates the trends in usage of hand phone features in terms of phone calls, messaging, camera, video recordings, games and also internet browsing in 2006, 2008, and 2010. As seen in the graph, majority of phone owners uses phone call features throughout the 3 year periods, and the rest of the features increased in percentage in each years presented.

In 2006 and 2008 phone calls is the top trending features that phone owners used which rated at 100 as its highest figure in both years but had 1 percent fall in 2010. Messaging was the second trending features followed by camera features, which started at 71 and 66 respectively in 2006 and continued to increased at 2 to 5 percent in 2008 and 2009. Music features is the least used by owners in 2010 even though it started at 12 percent in 2006 and increased to 18 percent in the following years.

The most significant increased in usage of features is internet browsing and video recording in which both features are not available during 2006. As clearly seen in the grapgh, Internet browsing had a dramatic increase to 41 percent and almost doubled in 2010. This trend was also seen in video features, which later on had 9 percent increased in 2008 and had multiplied 6 times higher than the previous year in 2010.

Overall, as the year progresses features of mobile phones were continuously developing and hand phone owners uses these features as the years goes by.

[huseyin]

this graph compares percentages about mobil phones were used by which aims over a period of 4 years.
firstly, it is clear that people who used mobile phones for making calls were at top in all three years (2006, 2008 and 2010). whereas playing games and music were minimal options in 2006, there is no data about searching the internet and recording video at same time period. it can be seen that mobile phones were used for communication.
secondly, there are no big variations for other options over a period of 4 years. for example sending and receiving text message and taking photos increased steadily during 4 years.however, it can be seen easily that search the internet and record video options increases drastically between 2006 and 2010.
finally, people used mobile phones in order to communicate each other in 2006. then, trends were changed increasingly in following years.

thanks...

[kofo]

Congratulations KW!

[target7.0]

I like Simon's essay but I found one typo mistake "commenest". I think it should be commonest instead.

[target7.0]

Simon,

I am wonder that the term you used in your paragraph "to make a calls" is correct or not. In my opinion, it should be "to make a call" or "to make call" instead.

[target7.0]

One more question to Simon

You used "and they increased to 79% users in 2010".It is somehow causes misunderstanding about expressing the increasing of mobile phone users rather than the percentage of cell phone users used text function in 2010.

Am I right?

[Aleksandra Bucholc]

Dear Target7.0
Please read carefully,
I think you described another essay, giving your comments about some problems that you found in, but it was a piece of another student(mz), not of our teacher. This is a well-written essay, but if we are students we may still have some mistakes.
It is simply impossible for me that Simon could write, for example, to make a calls, such a basic mistake. He always provides us with the 9 band essays.
Please look at the next lesson(W1) where he gave his summary paragraph.

[Simon]

Hi Target 7,

Which essay are you looking at? I didn't write those things. The essays above were written by students - you can see their names below. I only wrote the lesson at the top of the page.

[Ranbir Mittal]

According to graph ,large percentage of mobile phone owners are using there phones to make call between 2006 to 2010 .however there is slightly increases in use of other feature like take photos,send&receiving text messages,play games ,play music and recording video, but there is drmatically increases in search the internet from 41% to 73% between 2008 to 2010 .

[jennifer]

Hi simon:) I know you are busy I was hoping you could read and give score on my essay above..thankyou :)

[shamili]

The table illustrates the information about the percentage of cell phone users accessing different features on their phones.

eventually, the no of users who accessed data plan and recording video increased as the years progressed.

In the year 2006 the most popular reason was to make calls which is remained constant through out the other two years with a slight decrease in the year 2010 which was 99.the causes for usage are recorded high in the following features that is for sending and receiving text messages, capturing images respectively with the figures 73 and 66. however, playing games and music are little low. it is also evident that there is no data recorded for data plan users and video recorders.

during the next two years there was a sudden increase in the no of internet browser from 41 to 73. The no of video recorders tripled as much as in the year 2008 and also the no of music listeners also rose to 26.

to sumup, the no of users who are using various features had shown a considerable increase as the years progressed.

[shamili]

could any one please comment on my writing my exam is in a week

[sunitha]

Over all,by the end of the term mobile phone use was increased dramatically for various purpose when compared to 2006.However the percentage of making phone call remained more or less the same at 100%.

[Leo]

Dear Simon,

Thx a lot for so many usful tips. I would like to express my appreciation :) I am quite new for IELTS preparation. The following is my orgnization. I do not know if I was doing it the right way. Would someone check it for me plz.thank you

paragraph1:
introduce what the table describes

p2:
1. nearly all the people used mobile phones for making calls
2. a smoothfully increasing demand for taking photos and text services

p3:
1. a considerably increase for entertainment(games & music)
2. in spite of an insignificant fall for playing games from 2008 to 2010

p4:
1. no data were collected in 2006(Internet & video)
2. extensively increse can be observed (Internet & video) 2008-2010

p5:
summerize the data pattern.

[Leo]

Dear Simon,

In sammary, it is noticeable that there had been an increasing tendency for various application usage of smart phones in spite of small fluctuations and new applications, such as accessing the Internet and video recording, has been coming up onto the word stage.

[safaa]

1. this table shown different category for using mobile for the period 2006, 2008 and 2010
2.mobile calls were 100% in 2006, 2008 and its slightly decline to 98% in 2010.
3.in 2006 playing music was 12% and there are no data for search internet and record video.
4.record video was the less activity used it was 9%
5.26% was the lower activity use in 2010

[dongqtrung]

It can be seen from the graph that more features beyond making phone call became popular through years with noticeable increases in their use rates.

[Miles]

The table is about the percentages of cellphone users who access variety of mobile features. In general, makings calls and sending and receiving text messages were the most frequently used since 2006, while Internet usage and video record were not yet introduced in the same year.

In the beginning of 2006, majority of people with cellphone used it for making a call and to send and receive text messages. This consists greater number with 100, 73 and 66, thus the value increase with 99, 79 and 76 in 2010.

Furthermore, people with mobile, were hooked in playing games and music, both features comprise nearly the same number with 12 and 17, it doubled after four year since 2006.

Lastly, Internet usage and video record were used by mobile owners in 2008 with 9 and 41, these figures rise with 73 and 35 within two succeeding years.

[until7]

hello simon
I did not find your answer for this task could you please post it.
thank you

[Simon]

Here's the full essay:

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2013/07/ielts-writing-task-1-mobile-phones-essay.html