IELTS Writing Task 1: How to describe a process

Are you worried about the writing section of the IELTS? In this video, you will learn how to describe a process. You will often need to do this in writing task 1 on the IELTS. It is a good idea to prepare yourself for it. I will teach you what to expect in writing task 1, what a process is, how to understand what is happening in a process, and how to organize your writing by using sequencers. I will also teach you how to use the passive voice, which is very important for this question type and for your English in general. Good luck!

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TRANSCRIPT

Hi there. My name is Emma, and in today's video I am going to teach you about how to write about processes. So, if you are taking the IELTS, this video is very important for writing task 1. If you're not taking the IELTS, you can learn a lot in this video, because we will be covering some very important grammar and some very important vocabulary that you can use in your everyday life also. Okay? So, if you're taking the IELTS, this video is great for you; and if you're not taking the IELTS, this video is also very good for you.

Okay, so first of all: What is a process? Okay, well, so, if you are doing the IELTS, there are two different writing components: task 1 and task 2. Sometimes you will get some pictures and you have to write about them on the IELTS. So, these pictures show a process. So, a process is pretty much showing different stages or steps on how something is made, or how something works, or how it's created or produced. Okay? So, the key thing here is that you're looking at different stages on how something is made, created, or produced.

Processes can be natural or they can be man-made. So, for natural, if you can imagine in science you might learn about how photosynthesis works with plants. Okay? You might learn about how mushrooms grow. Okay? How animals mate. These are all processes. In terms of man-made, an example of a process would be how concrete is made, or even how chocolate is created and produced. Okay?

So, on the IELTS, you might, because there are different versions of the test... You may have to look at some pictures and describe a process, and describe what is happening in this picture. So, I've drawn a very simple process-okay?-and this is the process of taking the IELTS. Okay? So, in my picture, I have a student here, and they're at their computer studying different videos and different things to help them prepare for the IELTS. So, this is my first stage or my first step. The second step in my process is actually taking the IELTS, and the final step is the student looking very happy, saying: "I got a great score." Okay? Because they studied a lot and they practiced a lot.

So, on the IELTS, you will not get something like this that's this simple. It'd be great if you did, but usually the processes are more complicated. They're more complex. You might have 10 pictures of something like how to make coffee. But the key here is you will see a bunch of pictures, and you need to figure out where the pictures start and where they finish. What is the final product? Okay? So in this case, the beginning is watching this video, and the end is getting a high score on the IELTS. Okay? In making coffee, maybe the first process is getting the beans. Maybe the last process is actually drinking a cup of coffee. Okay? So it's good when you see a diagram to figure out: Where's the beginning, and where's the end? And also thinking about: Is it natural or a man-made process?

Okay, so if you are taking the IELTS and you get a bunch of pictures in the writing section, a couple key things here. You will have to write 150 words where you describe the pictures. Okay? And you have 20 minutes to do this. So, what you pretty much need to do is summarize what is happening in the picture. So, you're just reporting the main features, you're summarizing what you see. You are not giving your opinion. Okay? You do not say what you think about the process. All you need to do on the IELTS is say what you see and describe it. Okay? You're also not adding information. If you know about, for example, how to make a cup of coffee and you have to describe this process, maybe you have a lot of information you know about this. But if you don't see it in the pictures, you don't write about it. Okay?

So, in this video, I am going to teach you about sequencers, which can really help your mark; as well as grammar, the passive voice, which is something we use a lot when we are describing processes. So, let's look at those features now.

Okay. So, in this video, I'm not going to tell you about how to write your introduction, but I just wanted to be clear: It's very important that you have about maybe two sentences to introduce what the process is.