She used comparisons: “While television viewing fell by half, smartphone use more than quadrupled.”
Television started as the king (3 hours in 2015), but its line curved sadly downward, ending at just 1.5 hours in 2025. Laptops had a small, sad mountain—rising a bit in the early years, then falling back to where they started. But Smartphones? That line was a rocket. It began at the bottom (1 hour) and shot straight up, crossing Television’s line in 2019 and ending at a commanding 4.5 hours. The Key to IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
Marta had taken the IELTS exam three times. Each time, the Reading and Listening felt like manageable rivers. The Speaking was a pleasant chat. But Task 1 of the Academic Writing—the silent, judging graphs—was a concrete wall. She used comparisons: “While television viewing fell by
But she remembered The Key . She took a deep breath and put on her new glasses. That line was a rocket
In the past, Marta would have panicked. She would have written: In 2015, smartphone use was 1 hour. Television was 3 hours. Laptops were 2 hours. In 2016, smartphones went up to 1.2 hours…
She didn’t cheer. She just sat down and opened The Key to the first page again. On the inside cover, she wrote:
The book explained a radical idea: a chart is not data. A chart is a character in a drama. The line has a life. It is born (the starting point), it faces conflicts (fluctuations), it triumphs or fails (peaks and troughs), and it ends somewhere new (the final value).