Rise, fall, level off — and the difference between reporting a chart and explaining it.
How this drill works, and why it is built this way›
Task 1 asks you to report, not to explain. Never write why you think a line moved. There are no marks for it, and there is a risk of being wrong.
Two grammar patterns carry most of Task 1. Verb + adverb:sales rose sharply. Adjective + noun:there was a sharp rise in sales. Use both.
Rise and fall take no object — nothing rises them. Raise and reduce need someone doing it. Getting this wrong is the commonest Task 1 grammar error.
Always give the overview its own paragraph, and put no numbers in it. The overview says what the whole chart does; the body paragraphs carry the figures.
Group the data. Four lines described one after another is a list. Two groups of two is a report.
Worked example
Car sales went up a lot from 2019 to 2021, then went down a bit.
Correct English. Wrong register for Task 1.
Answer: Car sales rose sharply between 2019 and 2021 before declining slightly.
Went up a lot becomes rose sharply. Went down a bit becomes declined slightly. Before replaces then and joins the two movements into one sentence. The point: one verb plus one adverb replaces four everyday words.
Moderate · CEFR B1around band 5 – 5.5change level:
The drill moves you up or down on its own. Two good sets and it gets harder; two hard ones and it steps back.
The band range is what this level practises for — it is a guide, not a score. Only your first answer to each item counts towards the level decision.
Your answers and explanations open after the set is complete, the attempt is saved and your email is verified.
For whole-sentence tasks, the checker looks for the required structure and facts; it is not an examiner and cannot judge every possible sentence.
