How to describe a natural process or cycle in Task 1

This lesson will help you conquer your fear of cycles!

Watch my YouTube video to take you step by step through everything you need to know about writing a Band 7 IELTS Writing Task 1.

Paraphrase the introduction

As with all Academic IELTS Writing Task 1 descriptions, write the question in your own words e.g.

The diagram illustrates/shows/outlines/depicts the key stages in the life cycle of a butterfly.

Write an overall sentence here (or at the end) too e.g

Overall, we can see that the cycle consists of/involves [a series of remarkable transformations].

1. Choose the Simple Present Tense

Life begins as an egg.

The caterpillar hatches.

It eats the shell.

It looks for leaves.

It grows.

It finds a twig.

It makes a chrysalis.

It comes out.

It sits on the chrysalis.

It transforms.

A butterfly emerges.

The wings expand.

It reproduces.

The life cycle begins again.

2. Remember to use Third Person ‘s’ if necessary

Look at all the examples above – they all need ‘s’ at the end of the verb (It grows, expands, hatches etc).

For variety, you could use ‘they’ – and then don’t put the ‘s’! (They grow, expand, hatch)

3. Choose Passive or Active tenses

There aren’t many examples here, but instead of saying:

‘The butterfly lays an egg’ (Active)

you could say

‘An egg is laid’ (Passive).

4. Use a variety of linking words

These are the simple sequencing ones:

First of all/Firstly
Secondly
After that
Next
Then
Finally

5. Use advanced linking techniques

Check out my blog and video about cohesion here.

Try to make things link together between sentences by using:

Reference words: it/they/them/one/this/these
synonyms (the young caterpillars, the baby caterpillars)
after which (links 2 sequence sentences)
as/when (links 2 time sentences)
if (links condition and result)
‘-ing’ participles (click to see my blog about this – it’s so important for IELTS Writing).
so that e.g. The butterfly unfurls its wings so that they dry out.
in order to e.g. The butterfly unfurls its wings in order to dry them out.
in order for e.g The butterfly unfurls its wings in order for them to dry out.

6. Add the Band 7+ ‘magic’

Adding descriptive words is a really useful way to make your writing more precise, advanced, complex and ‘less common’ (see the Band Descriptors Video) and it helps increase your word count, which CAN be an issue in cycles.

Try to add a descriptive adjective wherever you can:

a small egg,
the baby caterpillar,
milkweed leaves,
the underside of a twig

I show you how you can also do this when Describing changes to a plan.

7. Use synonyms

This is probably the most difficult part – finding synonyms for quite technical words.

But doing this will make you stand out.

e.g. it hatches, emerges, wriggles free, comes out

8. Use adjectives

This is similar to point 6, but what I mean here is that you should try not to just use verbs to describe the steps.

There is one good example here of an alternative:

It does not move = It is motionless.

9. Use nouns and collocations

This is another example of how you can avoid using verbs mechanically and how to add some variety to the text. e.g.

It transforms = it undergoes a transformation
It looks for = it goes in search of

10. Don’t worry too much about factual details

OK this is a bit controversial, and I’m not suggesting you should go off-topic or make up random scientific facts to meet the word count, but you can add details without worrying TOO much about how scientifically accurate they are.

e.g. from the picture, it’s not clear how long each stage takes. So it is absolutely fine to say

‘it waits for several hours/days/weeks before it emerges’

The examiner will not worry too much about how true this is.

Do lots of googling about natural cycles. They all follow the same pattern. Watch YouTube videos and those little Facebook videos – they will really help you get familiar with describing a cycle.

And finally…

Read about natural cycles (carbon, water, nitrogen etc). They all follow the same pattern.

Watch YouTube videos and those little Facebook videos – they will really help you get familiar with describing a cycle.

Have you ever had a question about a cycle in the IELTS test? What kind of cycle was it? Leave a message in the comments below.

Get feedback and a full course to improve your IELTS Writing score in the Members Academy.

Find more like this:

Get more Academic Writing Task 1 Tips here.

How to describe changes to a plan.

How to describe a prediction table.

How to use the Past Perfect in Task 1 dynamic charts.

How to describe a Process in Academic IELTS Writing Task 1.

How to describe ANOTHER Cycle in Academic IELTS Writing Task 1.