Academic Task 1
IELTS Task 1 Mixed Charts: How to Group Data
IELTS task 1 mixed charts place two different visuals in one Academic question. The report is still one summary. Grouping decides whether a paragraph follows a chart or follows a category that appears on both.
The notes below paraphrase the public IELTS Writing band descriptors published on ielts.org. The file itself is marked as updated in May 2023. This page does not reproduce that scale, and it does not award a band. A script has to fit the positive features of a band as a whole.
Task Achievement is the Academic Task 1 name. The public task asks you to summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and to make comparisons where relevant. It also asks for at least 150 words. A second picture does not create a second task. The Task 1 overview guide is the single visual. This page is two types in one question. The four criteria sit side by side in the band descriptors guide. A map is a different visual, covered in the Task 1 map vocabulary guide. General Training Task 1 is a letter, and a letter has no chart.
What a mixed chart question is
A mixed chart question gives two visuals of different types and asks for one report. Common pairs are a table with a pie chart, a bar chart with a line graph, and a pie chart with a table. Grouping is hardest when the types differ.
The pictures usually share a topic. They often do different jobs. One may show a total, or a change over years. The other may show how a single year was divided, or a second measure such as income rather than visitors. Read the headings before you decide they describe the same numbers. A percent of ticket income is not a percent of visitors, even when the category names match. The public minimum is still at least 150 words, so grouping is how you choose which figures share a paragraph.
Group by chart, or group by category
There are two honest ways to split the body. Group by chart when each visual needs its own paragraph. Group by category when the same labels appear on both visuals and a reader needs those two measures side by side. Do this on the question paper before you write the opening sentence.
- Read the unit on each visual. Thousands, dollars, and percents are not one scale.
- Read the category labels. The same three names on a table and a pie are a reason to group by category. A line with no categories, next to a bar that has four, is a reason to group by chart.
- Name the job of each picture in a few words: trend, ranking, share, or a second measure. If the jobs differ, the overview has to say both jobs.
- If a sentence would put a percent next to a count as if one were larger, rewrite it so each figure keeps its own unit.
When the paragraph should follow the chart
Example bar chart and line graph, invented for this page. The line shows average weekly household spending in dollars. The bars are the 2020 shares only, and the line has no categories.
| Year | Average weekly spending |
|---|---|
| 2010 | $200 |
| 2015 | $240 |
| 2020 | $300 |
| Share of spending in 2020 | Percent |
|---|---|
| Housing | 35% |
| Food | 25% |
| Transport | 20% |
| Leisure | 20% |
Group by chart: one paragraph for the line, one for the bars. Housing is not a point on the line. Example overview for this pair. Overall, average weekly spending rose at both steps and finished at its highest figure. In 2020, housing was the largest share, food was next, and transport and leisure were equal. The body can give 200, 240, and 300. The second step, from 240 to 300, is larger than the first, from 200 to 240. Do not turn 35% into dollars. “Housing rose from $200 to $300” uses the total as if it were the housing bar, and the bars have no earlier year.
When the paragraph should follow the category
Example table and pie chart, invented for this page. Three galleries in one invented museum, not an official task. The table counts visitors, in thousands, in 2015 and 2020. The pie shows each gallery’s share of ticket income in 2020. The percents sum to 100.
| Gallery | Visitors, 2015 (thousands) | Visitors, 2020 (thousands) | Share of ticket income, 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art | 40 | 70 | 50% |
| History | 60 | 55 | 30% |
| Science | 20 | 50 | 20% |
Group by gallery, because the same three names appear on both visuals and the useful comparison is the same gallery on two measures. The pie is ticket income, not a split of the visitor counts, so 50% is not 70 thousand. Art and Science each gain 30 thousand visitors. History falls from 60 thousand to 55 thousand and is no longer the most visited gallery.
The overview has to cover both visuals
Band 5 on the public scale describes detail recounted mechanically, with no clear overview. Band 6 presents an overview with information appropriately selected, while details may be irrelevant, inappropriate, or inaccurate. An overview of only the table has selected one visual. Band 7 asks for a clear overview of the main trends, differences, or stages, so name the main pattern of each picture and leave the figures for the body. Band 8 presents, highlights, and illustrates key features clearly and appropriately. Place that overview straight after one opening sentence, which names both visuals but is not itself the overview.
How to organise the four parts
- One opening sentence names both visuals, what each measures, the unit, and the time if there is one.
- One or two overview sentences state the main pattern of each visual, and the link only when the page shows it.
- The first body paragraph takes the first chart, or the first group of categories, with the figures that support the overview.
- The second body paragraph takes what remains. Compare back only when the units match, or when you name the same category’s second measure.
Select the highest, the lowest, a clear change, and one comparison across the two visuals. Transport and leisure are both 20%, so one sentence can cover them. All three galleries change the ranking, so all three belong. The Task 1 figures guide is the cell-by-cell check. In the museum sample below, Art and Science share the first body paragraph, and History has the second.
Vocabulary for a comparison that crosses the charts
Lexical Resource is a separate criterion. On the public scale, Band 7 asks for a sufficient range with some flexibility and precision. A precise phrase names the visual and the unit. The lexical resource band 7 guide is the check for range that stays accurate.
| Phrase | Use it when |
|---|---|
| the line shows the total, while the bars show the share | the two visuals do different jobs |
| accounted for / made up / represented | a slice or a percent on the pie or the bar |
| the same gallery / the same category | a label printed on both visuals |
| rose / fell / gained / remained | a change across years on the time visual |
| a larger change than / the same gain as | two changes measured in the same unit |
| the largest share / the highest figure | a ranking inside one unit, not across a percent and a count |
Name the unit again when the sentence moves from the table to the pie. “Rose by 30 thousand visitors, and accounted for half of ticket income” keeps the measures apart. “Respectively” is safe only when the list and the numbers share one unit.
A Band 8-style example for this table and pie
Example response, written for this page. It is not an official IELTS sample, and it is not a score. It describes only the labelled museum table and pie above. It is written so each key feature stays with the visual it came from. A real script is judged across all four criteria.
The table compares visitor numbers, in thousands, at the Art, History, and Science galleries in 2015 and 2020, while the pie chart shows each gallery’s share of ticket income in 2020. Overall, Art and Science each gained 30 thousand visitors, while History fell from the highest figure in 2015. In 2020 Art was both the most visited gallery and the largest share of ticket income.
Art visitors rose from 40 thousand to 70 thousand, and that gallery accounted for 50% of ticket income in 2020. Science visitors rose from 20 thousand to 50 thousand, the same gain as Art, whereas Science represented only 20% of ticket income. Science remained the least visited gallery in both years.
History was the most visited gallery in 2015, at 60 thousand, but the number fell to 55 thousand in 2020. It accounted for 30% of ticket income in that year, which placed it between Art and Science on the pie chart as well as in the 2020 visitor ranking.
The opening names both visuals. The overview covers the visitor changes and Art’s lead on both measures. “The same gain as Art” compares 30 thousand with 30 thousand, not with 20%. The example is longer than the public minimum of 150 words. It is an illustration of key figures kept with their chart and unit, and it is not a score.
A clear paragraph can still miss one chart
The frequent failure on a single chart is an overview that never arrives. The Task 1 common mistakes guide treats that missing overview as a familiar problem. On a mixed question the matching failure is an overview that covers the first visual and forgets the second. Writing every cell in order can still match that Band 5 pattern, and so can a full paragraph on one chart with a single sentence left for the other.
These sentences miss the museum pair. “Science increased more than Art” is false: both gained 30 thousand. “The pie chart breaks down the visitors” names the wrong job for the pie. “All three galleries followed the same trend” ignores History’s fall. “Housing was the reason the total rose” adds a cause the spending bars do not show.
Read each figure against the visual it came from
On this site the checker scores the words you submit. The charts stay in front of you. The IELTS Writing Checker takes a pasted report, and it also takes a photo of a handwritten report. Recognition of a photo runs in the browser. You confirm the text before the diagnosis. The Task 1 checker is the door for charts, maps, processes, and tables. The chart-upload guide is the sequence for a photo: confirm the recognised words, then match each figure to the visual it came from.
Paste the report with the task wording if you have it. Read the Task Achievement line for the overview before the overall estimate, and check that the overview mentions both visuals. The methodology page describes the product as a diagnostic and revision tool. A band estimate shows a likely bottleneck. It is not an official IELTS score. The form runs from 50 words. A complete Academic Task 1 response is still at least 150.
Paste one Academic Task 1 report on two visuals. Read the Task Achievement note for the overview, then check that both charts are covered and that each figure matches the visual it came from.
The form runs from 50 words. A complete Academic Task 1 report is at least 150 words.
What this page is not claiming
This site is not affiliated with IELTS, the British Council, IDP, or Cambridge English. The band descriptions here are a paraphrase of the public Writing descriptors, so you can revise a draft. They are not the official wording, and they are not a result. Only an official IELTS test assigns an examined band.
The spending pair and the museum pair were drawn so the grouping could be checked against a label. They are not past papers and not evidence of a band. On your own question, mark each visual’s unit and job, choose chart or category, and write one overview you can test against both pictures.