Does IELTS Task 1 Need a Conclusion? The Overview Already Does That Job

Most candidates learn Task 2 first, and Task 2 needs a conclusion. So they carry the habit across and finish a chart description with In conclusion, the graph shows many changes over the period. That sentence costs them about fifteen words and adds nothing, because the thing it is trying to do has already been done at the top of the answer.

Task 1 needs an overview. An overview is not a conclusion, it sits in a different place, and it does a different job. This post shows both shapes side by side so you can see what the Task 2 habit actually costs.

What an overview is

An overview is one or two sentences stating the largest, most general pattern in the data, with no individual numbers in it. It is the answer to the question what would you tell someone who has three seconds?

For a line graph showing car ownership rising in four countries between 1990 and 2020:

Overall, car ownership increased in all four countries over the thirty year period, with the sharpest rise in China and the slowest in Japan.

That sentence has no figures. It names a direction, a scope, and the two ends of the range. It goes immediately after your opening sentence, in the second position in the answer, not at the end.

What a Task 2 conclusion is, and why it does not transfer

A Task 2 conclusion restates a position you have argued for. It exists because Task 2 is an argument, and an argument has a result. Task 1 Academic is not an argument. You are summarising data that is printed in front of the reader, and you are told not to give an opinion about it.

So the Task 2 conclusion has nothing to restate. When candidates write one anyway, it comes out as one of these three shapes, and all three are empty.

The third one is the interesting case, because the sentence itself is good. The problem is that it is a duplicate. Saying the main pattern twice does not score twice.

Two answers, same data, different shape

Version A, with a Task 2 style conclusion.

The line graph compares car ownership per thousand people in four countries between 1990 and 2020. In 1990, Japan had the highest level at around 280 cars per thousand people, while China had fewer than 10. Over the next two decades Japan rose slowly to about 450. China grew from a very low base, reaching roughly 180 by 2020. Germany and Brazil sat between the two, at 390 and 150 respectively by the end of the period. In conclusion, the graph shows that there were many changes in car ownership between 1990 and 2020, and the four countries were quite different from each other.

Version B, with an overview.

The line graph compares car ownership per thousand people in four countries between 1990 and 2020. Overall, ownership rose in all four countries, but the gap between the highest and lowest narrowed considerably, because the countries starting from the lowest levels grew fastest. In 1990, Japan had the highest level at around 280 cars per thousand people, while China had fewer than 10. Over the next two decades Japan rose slowly to about 450, an increase of roughly 60 per cent. China grew from a very low base, reaching roughly 180 by 2020, which is an eighteenfold rise. Germany and Brazil sat between the two, at 390 and 150 respectively by the end of the period.

The two answers use almost the same words. Version B moved the general statement to the front, made it say something specific about the shape of the data, and spent the words saved on two comparisons: 60 per cent and eighteenfold.

Task Achievement, the first criterion in Task 1, asks whether you selected and reported the key features. The narrowing gap is a key feature. Version A never mentions it, and its final paragraph announces that changes occurred, which the reader can see.

So should you ever write a final paragraph

You do not need one, and it is safer not to. If you have covered the data and you still have words and time, a final sentence is only worth writing when it states a pattern you have not already stated.

One case where it earns its place: a chart where the trend reverses near the end, and the reversal is easier to describe after the detail than before it.

By 2018 the earlier pattern had inverted, with the two countries that led at the start of the period recording the lowest figures.

That is not a conclusion restating an argument. It is a second key feature, placed where it makes sense. If you cannot write a sentence like that, stop after the detail paragraphs. A Task 1 answer that ends on its last data point is complete.

General Training Task 1 is different again

If you are sitting General Training, Task 1 is a letter, and a letter does have a closing. That is not a conclusion either; it is a closing line and a sign off.

I look forward to hearing from you. Yours faithfully,

So the rule is not never write anything at the end. It is that the three tasks end differently: an Academic chart description ends on its data or on a second key feature, a General Training letter ends on a closing line and a sign off, and only Task 2 ends on a conclusion that restates a position.

A checklist for the last two minutes

1. Is there a sentence starting Overall or similar, in the second position, with no individual figures in it?
2. Does that sentence name a direction and a scope, rather than announcing that changes happened?
3. Is there a final paragraph beginning In conclusion? If so, read it. If it repeats the overview, delete it.
4. If you deleted it, do you now have room for one comparison you left out? A percentage change or a ratio between two values is worth more than a restatement.

Do this today

Take any Task 1 answer you have written that ends with In conclusion. Delete that paragraph. Then check that your second sentence states the main pattern with no numbers in it, and if it does not, write it.

Count the words you got back. On most answers it is between twelve and twenty five, which is one full comparison sentence. Paste both versions into Bandly and compare the estimates for each of the four criteria; the interesting thing to look at is whether Task Achievement moves when the general statement changes position.