DESCRIBE IMAGE
About the task type
This is a long-answer speaking task type that tests speaking skills. You have 40 seconds to describe the
information in a graph, chart, map, picture or table. You will do 6-7 Describe image tasks.
Strategies
Focus on the main points
• After the tone, start with a general statement of what the image is about. Then describe the most important features or
trends or contrasts.
• Don’t try to describe every detail; use relevant data to illustrate the main points of the information.
• Use your notes to make sure your description is clearly organized.
• Conclude with a comment on any implications or conclusions.
Look carefully at the image
• You have 25 seconds before the microphone opens to look carefully at the image.
• Identify the main features or trends, and the names of features or variables in labels. Identify the significant features,
major contrasts or changes over time. Think of any implications of the information, or any conclusions that can be
drawn.
• Make notes of the main points on your Erasable Noteboard Booklet, and decide the order in which you will describe the
information.
Keep speaking
• Keep speaking. The more you say, the more thorough your description will be.
• If you make an error in the information, don’t worry; correct yourself and move on. When the microphone closes,
click ‘Next’.
Test Focus
Subskills tested
Speaking: speaking for a purpose (to repeat, to inform, to explain); supporting an opinion with details, examples and
explanations; organizing an oral presentation in a logical way; developing complex ideas within a spoken discourse;
using words and phrases appropriate to the context; using correct grammar; speaking at a natural rate; producing
fluent speech; using correct intonation; using correct pronunciation; using correct stress; speaking under timed
conditions.
Preparation
• Practise interpreting different types of image, including line, bar and pie graphs, process diagrams and maps, that you see
in news stories.
• Find an image that interests you. Take brief notes of the main points using key words, with arrows to indicate the order of
what you will say. Practise using your notes to organize your description.
• Practise giving an overview by summarizing the information in an image in one sentence. Set a timer so that you are ready
to give the overview after 25 seconds.
• You will score higher if you include, as well as all the main points, any developments or implications, or any conclusions
that can be drawn.
• Set a timer for 40 seconds and practise describing a picture or graph so you are familiar with the time you have to
speak in this task. Then find 6 or 7 images to describe, and practise describing all of them, with 25 seconds to look
at each image and 40 seconds to describe it.
• Record yourself describing an image then compare your response with the image to check how complete your
description was.
• Practise using words and phrases used to describe amounts (more than, less than, approximately) and trends (rose,
fell, fluctuated, remained stable), as well as comparatives and superlatives (greatest, highest, lowest, higher than,
lower than).
