IELTS Writing Task 1 overview: how many sentences? - Irina Lutsenko

As is often the case, this post is based on a question by a student. The student saw a claim online that the overview must be two sentences and asked me for clarification.

Unfortunately, it's not that simple. The number of sentences is not a reliable metric.

Compare these two overviews:

1. Overall, life expectancy varied significantly across the given countries in 2008. However, it became longer in all over the 55 years.

2. Overall, while life expectancy varied significantly across the given countries in 2008, it became longer in all over the 55 years. Notably, Japan, the leading country, showed very small growth, but Indonesia, the country with the shortest life span, showed the largest increase.

Or, these two:

1. Overall, while life expectancy varied significantly across the given countries in 2008, being different worldwide over the 55 years. Notably, Japan showed very small growth, but Indonesia showed the largest increase.

2. Overall, while life expectancy varied significantly across the given countries in 2008, it became longer in all over the 55 years. Notably, Japan, the leading country, showed very small growth, but Indonesia, the country with the shortest life span, showed the largest increase.

In both sets of examples, the overviews are two sentences, but the amount of information is drastically different.

The overview is all about the features, not just the number of sentences. That said, I have to admit two is a good number for a good overview. But not just any two.

Кстати, этим летом я провожу два практических тренинга по написанию абзаца-обзора в первом задании IELTS. Подробности: https://vk.com/market/product/pishem-ielts-obzor-v-zadanii-1-task-1-overview-47977221-11113395

PS: The whole answer to the task in the picture, as well as many others, is available on Telegram: https://t.me/irinalutsenko/551