IELTS. Academic Writing. Задание 1. Таблица

Если в первом задании письменной части теста IELTS вам попалось задание, где нужно описать таблицу, не забывайте, пожалуйста, что от вас требуется анализ, а не перечисление всех подряд данных, которые вы видите перед глазами. Не нужно переписывать все подряд цифры из таблицы, и уж точно не стоит переводить таблицу в сплошной текст. А что же нужно делать? Давайте разбираться.

Table
You will be given one table of figures. Your task is to describe the information given in the graph by writing a 150 word report. You are not asked to give your opinion. You should spend around 20 minutes on the task.

What is being tested is your ability to:

• objectively describe the information presented in a table
• compare and contrast
• report on an impersonal topic without the use of opinion
• use language appropriate to the description of tables

Итак, перед вами таблица, и нужно дать ей описание. Предположим, такая:

The Quality of Life in Four Countries 

Задание может звучать следующим образом: 
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The following table gives statistics showing the aspects of quality of life in five countries Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information in the table below.
You should write at least 150 words.

Перед тем, как приступать к описанию, советую ответить на следующие вопросы. Таким образом, вы сможете убедиться, что вы понимаете, о чем говорит эта таблица, и не упускаете ничего важного. 

• What is the table measuring? 
• What type of language do you need to use (Change? Comparing and contrasting?) 
• What tense would you use? 
• Which country has the best quality of life and which has the worst? 
• What information could you use for an overview / conclusion? 
• How could you group the information? 
• How many paragraphs would you have and what you would write about in each one?

Если вы смогли ответить на эти вопросы, двигаемся дальше, и прикидываем себе план написания задания. Ваш план может выглядеть вот так: 

Topic - standard of living, 5 countries
Language - comparison
Time/tense - 1982 = past
Overview - USA far higher

Group -
USA = highest
Egypt, Indo, Bol = similar
Bangladesh = very low

Такой план можно назвать очень близким к идеальному. У вас не займет много времени, чтоб его написать – это всего лишь наброски. Но он содержит максимум информации, которая вам нужна. Поглядывая на этот план, вы ничего не забудете. 
Теперь посмотрите пример описания этой таблицы, и сравните его с планом. 

Sample Answer
The table uses four economic indicators to show the standard of living in five selected countries in 1982.  Overall, it can be seen that the quality of life in the USA was far higher than the other four countries.

To begin, the USA, which is a developed country, had the highest GNP at 13,160 dollars per head.  It also had a much higher daily calorie intake and life expectancy, and the lowest rate of infant mortality.

The other developing countries had quality of life ratings that were significantly lower.  The range of indicators for Egypt, Indonesia and Bolivia were similar, with Egypt having the highest quality of life amongst the three.  However, the infant mortality rate in Egypt’s was slightly higher than Indonesia’s at 97 deaths per 1000 compared to 78 in Indonesia.

Bangladesh had by far the lowest quality of life in all the indicators.  Its GNP was one hundred times smaller than the USA’s.  Its calorie intake and life expectancy were about half those of the USA, and its infant mortality rate was 10 times greater.

Words 178

А теперь рассмотрим не очень удачный пример описания таблицы, и комментарий экзаменатора к нему.

Your task
Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information in the table below.

Sample answer 
The table shows how people in different age groups spent their leisure time in Someland. It can be clearly seen that the amount of leisure time available varied considerably across the age groups.

Teenagers in Someland spent 1,200 hours a year watching TV and those in the over 70s group spent 100 hours less at 1,100. They spent 150 hours on socialising with 4 or less people compared with 200 hours at the other end of the scale. They spent 350 hours socialising with 4 or more people compared with 25 hours. The teenagers spent 450 hours on group exercise but retired people didn’t do any.

In conclusion, we can see that in Someland the teenagers and retired people prefer to spend their free time in different ways.

Teacher's comments on the sample answer
“The report structure is clear and well organised with an introduction, body and conclusion.

The candidate uses repetitive grammatical structures and vocabulary which would bring the mark down considerably. The tense used is not appropriate as there is no indication on the table that the figures refer to the past. Also the reader doesn’t know who is being referred to in the two sentences on socialising. The word ‘prefer’ in the conclusion is inappropriate because the table does not give any indication of people’s reasons for spending their time on one activity rather than another. Someone may choose indoor rather than outdoor activities because of their health although they would prefer to go outside.

In terms of task requirements the report has serious problems. Although in writing about a table you will have the difficulty of there being too much information to put into a 150 word report, you can’t solve this problem by ignoring whole sections of the table. In this case the candidate simply compared two age levels and ignored the rest.”

А вот здесь вы найдете очень хороший пример описания таблицы, на 9 баллов. 

Чтобы быстро ориентироваться в той информации, которая изложена в таблице, давайте потренируемся выделять ключевые моменты и находить закономерности. Посмотрите на таблицу и ответьте на вопросы:

1. Which sectors were the most and least popular in the 18-25 age group
a) agriculture
b) manufacturing
c) catering
d) local government
e) health
f) retail
g) law
h) accountancy
i) education

2. Which sector were the most and least popular in the 25-40 age group?
a) Agriculture
b) Manufacturing
c) Catering
d) local government
e) health
f) retail
g) law
h) accountancy
i) education

3. Which sectors were the most and least popular in the 40-65 age group?
a) Agriculture
b) Manufacturing
c) Catering
d) local government
e) health
f)  retail
g) law
h) accountancy
i)  education

4. If you compare the age groups, which three sectors show the greatest difference?
a) Agriculture
b) Manufacturing
c) Catering
d) local government
e) health
f) retail
g) law
h) accountancy
i) education

5. If you compare the age groups, which sector is the exactly same for each group?
a) Agriculture
b) Manufacturing
c) Catering
d) local government
e) health
f) retail
g) law
h) accountancy
i) education

6. If you compare the age groups, which sectors show minor differences?
a) Agriculture
b) Manufacturing
c) Catering
d) local government
e) health
f) retail
g) law
h) accountancy
i) education

7. Which sector of the economy was most common?
a) Retail
b)  Manufacturing
c) Law
d) Agriculture
e) local government

8. Which two sectors of the economy were least common?
a) Retail
b) Manufacturing
c) Law
d) Agriculture
e) Accountancy

9. Agriculture is almost as popular as which other sector?
a) Retail
b)  Manufacturing
c) Catering
d) Health
e) education

10. Which age group was employed most in the 9 named sectors of the economy?
a) 18-25
b) 25-40
c) 40-65

Correct answers 
1.    g, i 
2.    f, i 
3.    g, i 
4.    f, i 
5.    h, i 
6.    d, i
7.    b
8.    c, e
9.    d, e
10.    c 

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