IELTS Writing Task 1 with two charts: what to compare and what to ignore

A double-chart Task 1 — a pie chart of energy sources beside a table of consumption by sector, say — carries twice the data of a single chart and the same 150-word, 20-minute budget. That arithmetic is the whole question. Single-chart training teaches you to cover the data; a multi-chart task punishes coverage, because 150 words spread over two datasets describes neither. What it rewards is selection: a handful of figures chosen because they carry the main story, and — the part candidates miss — at least one sentence that uses the two charts together.

Why the charts are paired

The examiners did not staple two random figures. The pair almost always has a designed relationship, and finding it is the first ninety seconds' work:

• Whole and breakdown: one chart shows the total, the other splits it (energy produced by source / energy used by sector).
• Two moments: the same measure in 1990 and 2020 — the real subject is the change between the charts, not either chart alone.
• Cause and companion: car ownership alongside CO₂ emissions; attendance alongside ticket prices.

Your overview must name this relationship. "The pie chart shows X and the table shows Y" is a caption, not an overview; "While hydroelectric power dominates production, industry — not households — consumes most of it" is an overview, and that single cross-chart sentence does more for Task Achievement than any five figures — the same overview gap that separates a band 6 from a band 7.5 line-graph report.

The frame

1. Introduction (1 sentence): paraphrase what both figures show, jointly. "The two charts give a breakdown of how electricity was generated in the country in 2020 and which sectors consumed it."
2. Overview (2 sentences): the headline of each chart, or better, the one cross-chart headline plus the strongest single-chart feature.
3. Body 1: chart A — its two or three defining figures.
4. Body 2: chart B — likewise, and this is where the explicit link sentence lives if it didn't fit the overview: "Notably, although renewables supplied nearly half of all generation, the industrial sector that consumed the most power drew mainly on…"

One paragraph per chart keeps cohesion cheap. Interleaving the charts sentence-by-sentence can score higher on flexibility but collapses easily under time pressure — it is a choice for the second attempt at this task type, not the first.

Selecting figures when there are too many

The test of a figure's worth: does it support a superlative, a sharp contrast, or the cross-chart story? Keep the largest, the smallest, the crossover, the exception. Drop everything mid-table — band 7 highlights key features; listing every cell is explicitly the band 5 behaviour (mechanical recount of detail). For a table especially, expect to cite four or five of its numbers, not fifteen; group the rest ("the remaining sectors each accounted for under 10%") so coverage is acknowledged without being enumerated.

Precision habits still apply: units named once and reused consistently, approximation language for read-off-the-chart values (just under a third, roughly 45%), and figures in every body paragraph — a paragraph without a number is not reporting.

Time and length

Twenty minutes splits as: 3 to find the relationship and pick figures, 2 for introduction and overview, 6 per body paragraph, 3 to check. Aim at 160–180 words — the double dataset does not raise the ideal length, only the pressure to select. Running long on a multi-chart task is the visible symptom of failed selection, and it usually costs the Task 2 essay the minutes that decide the whole Writing band — Task 2 carries more of the writing score, so the trade is always bad.