Getting your target band score for the IELTS Writing Task 1 requires using language in a sophisticated way. Essentially, there are two really important factors:

  1. Use language accurately
  2. Avoid repetition

How can you do that? Thankfully, you don’t need a vocabulary of thousands of words to describe trends. With a little practice, you can master the necessary vocabulary to describe dozens of trends and also learn to vary that language at the same time! How? Look at the tables below:

Verb Noun
to risea rise
to falla fall
to increasean increase
to decreasea decrease
to dipa dip
to fluctuatea fluctuation
to recovera recovery

AdjectiveAdverb
slightslightly
sharpsharply
gradualgradually
steadysteadily
dramatic dramatically
noticeable noticeably

How to Use?

Many of the words you need to use in the IELTS Writing Task 1 to describe trends actually have two forms. Many verbs can be converted into a noun, and many adjectives can be converted into an adverb. Then you just need to pair the adjectives with a noun or an adverb with a verb!

Look at these examples:

adjective/noun

  • There was a gradual increase in prices…

adverb/verb

  • Prices gradually increased….