Overviews for IELTS Writing Task 1 – Foreign languages

The chart below shows the proportion of schoolchildren in Europe studying different foreign languages from 1990 to 2010.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

• English was the most widely studied language
• English became more widely studied
• Chinese and Spanish also increased in popularity
• French was studied less 

Now write an overview before proceeding to the next tab

The chart below shows the proportion of schoolchildren in Europe studying different foreign languages from 1990 to 2010.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

• English was the most widely studied language
• English became more widely studied
• Chinese and Spanish also increased in popularity
• French was studied less 

Overall, English was the most widely studied language at all times shown, and it became even more popular throughout the period.  Meanwhile, Spanish and Chinese also increased in popularity although the latter was the least studied in all years shown. 

Task Achievement, Band score 7:

You need a clear overview to get a bank score 7 for Task Achievement.

Make it easy for the examiner to give you a 7 - use the word overall, and put your overview in a separate paragraph

The overview is the first thing the examiner looks for, so don't hide it in the introduction or at the end. 

Mention at least two features.