IELTS mixed charts (Task 1): how to link two visuals, with a sample

What the examiner checks

Your Task 1 score is the average of four criteria of equal weight: Task Achievement, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy. In the official band descriptors, three Task Achievement lines matter most when there are two visuals:

• Band 8: "The response covers all the requirements of the task appropriately, relevantly and sufficiently." With a mixed task, the requirements include every visual.
• Band 7: "It presents a clear overview, the data are appropriately categorised, and main trends or differences are identified."
• Band 5: "Key features which are selected are not adequately covered."

The descriptors don't mention mixed tasks by name. But a report that gives the second visual one line leaves part of the task under-covered, and one that lists both figure by figure has no clear overview.

Step 1: find what links the two visuals

Here is the practice task we'll use through the guide. Before you read on, give yourself 60 seconds and answer the three questions above: what does each visual measure, which time does each cover, and what links them?

Step 2: choose a plan, by visual or by theme

The introduction (both visuals, paraphrased) and the overview (both visuals, summarised) are always the same. The choice is in the body.

Plan A: one body paragraph per visual. Use it when the visuals measure different things, as in the bike-share task:

• Body 1: the line: the rise, the 2020 dip, the jump after it.
• Body 2: the pie, ranked by share, plus an optional sentence linking it to the line.

Plan B: one body paragraph per theme. Use it when the visuals share categories. Two pie charts of household spending in 2000 and 2020 with the same six categories are really one comparison, so group the categories by behaviour:

• Body 1: the categories that grew between the two years, with both figures for each.
• Body 2: the categories that shrank or stayed the same.

More on Plan B in our pie chart guide.

A second case: same groups, different measures

A table gives visitors to three museums in 2010 and 2020, and a bar chart gives the share of 2020 visitors aged under 25 (invented figures):

• Science: 400,000 in 2010, 520,000 in 2020; 45% under 25
• Art: 350,000, then 300,000; 20% under 25
• History: 150,000, then 180,000; 30% under 25

The link is the three museums, and 2020 appears in both visuals. Grouping by museum works better than a paragraph per visual: body 1 on the Science museum, the largest in both years and the most popular with young visitors; body 2 on Art, the only one to lose visitors, and History. A calculation is safe for 2020 only: 45% of 520,000 is 234,000 young visitors. The bar chart says nothing about 2010, so don't estimate that year.

A possible overview: Overall, the Science museum attracted the most visitors in both years and the highest share of under-25s, while the Art museum was the only one to lose visitors.

Three or more visuals, or no link at all

With three or four visuals that share a measure and a period, group by theme (for example, trade partners where trade grew, then those where it fell) rather than writing a paragraph per visual. If two visuals share only a topic, don't invent a link: use Plan A and join the two halves of your overview with while or meanwhile.

How to write one overview for two visuals

Your overview needs to capture the main feature of both visuals. Start with Overall, and give the main feature of each visual, in one sentence or two. Keep detailed figures for the body. Three attempts for the bike-share task:

Covers one visual

Overall, the number of bike-share trips increased significantly between 2016 and 2024.

True, but the pie chart has disappeared. Half the task has no overview.

Two lists, not an overview

Overall, trips went from 3,000 to 15,000 a day. Commuting was 46%, shopping and errands 21%, leisure 18% and getting to a bus or train 15%.

Both visuals are there, but these are body details. Nothing is summarised.

A clear overview of both

Overall, bike-share use grew fivefold over the period, with most of the growth coming after 2020. In 2024, commuting was by far the most common purpose, accounting for almost half of all trips.

One main feature from each visual, no exact figures, and the second sentence picks up where the first ends (In 2024), so the two read as one picture. For a single visual, see how to write a Task 1 overview.

Linking language between visuals

For trend and comparison words, see our Task 1 vocabulary guide. A mixed task adds one job: moving between the visuals and connecting them.

One paragraph, three ways

Band scores apply to the whole answer, not to one paragraph. These three versions of the bike-share pie-chart paragraph show the moves the Task Achievement descriptors describe from band 6 to band 8: information "appropriately selected", then key features "covered and clearly highlighted", then key features "skilfully selected, and clearly presented, highlighted and illustrated".

Listed

The pie chart shows the purposes of trips in 2024. Commuting was 46%, shopping and errands was 21%, leisure was 18% and getting to a bus or train was 15%.

Correct and supported with data, but it reads the legend aloud: no ranking, no comparison.

Ranked and compared

Turning to the pie chart, commuting to work or study was the main purpose of bike-share trips in 2024, at 46%, more than double the share of shopping and errands (21%). Leisure accounted for a similar 18%, and the smallest share, 15%, went on getting to a bus or train.

A leader, a comparison (more than double) and a ranked order. This paragraph covers the pie chart clearly. Where useful, you can also connect it to the total shown in the line graph.

Ranked, grouped and linked

As for what these journeys were for, commuting dominated: in 2024 it accounted for 46% of all trips, or roughly 6,900 of the 15,000 made each day. Shopping and errands (21%) and leisure (18%) together made up 39%, while the remaining 15% of trips took riders to a bus or train.

These journeys points back to the line graph, together made up 39% groups two middle slices, and 6,900 of the 15,000 connects the visuals. That calculation works only because both figures describe the same trips in the same year. It's an option, not a requirement for a high score. (21% + 18% = 39%; 46% of 15,000 = 6,900.)

How long should a mixed chart answer be?

At least 150 words, and there is no official maximum. With two visuals, the risk runs both ways: running out of time before the second visual, or reporting so many figures that the answer turns into a list. In GoPrep data, mixed-chart answers were the longest first answers of any Task 1 type:

Practice: a full mixed task with a model answer

Test-takers often say tasks with several charts eat into Task 2 time, so time yourself.

Where to practise next

Mixed tasks are built from the single types. In GoPrep data, mixed charts had fewer short first answers than most types, and the same rounded average first score as bar charts, tables, maps and process diagrams.