IELTS Writing Task 1: diagram describing procedure of electricity generation

hydroelectric power station

The process diagram illustrates steps of how a hydroelectric powerplant produce electricity.

The power station is situated in between two water reservoirs, high-level and low-level. There are two stages in electricity production. At day water flows down to the power station, generating power. At night water stored in the lower-level reservoir is pumped to the high-level one, refilling the water store.

In order to collect water coming from rivers in the high-level reservoir, a dam is constructed. During the day, the intake under the dam is open and water flows down through the reversible turbines, operating the generator to produce electricity. The power then transfers to national grid through power lines, while the flow of water is stored in the lower-level reservoir.

At night, water in low-level reservoir is pumped back into the high-level one using the same turbines in power station and pipe lines. In this stage, the intake is closed. When water is transferred into the high-level reservoir, the power station is ready to start the procedure of power generation again.

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The clearer version of writing this report is the 3 paragraph version. The 3 paragraph version allows you write less information but with more clarity because you are able to properly group the information in a quick manner that will allow you to clearly explain the image within 20 minutes, leaving you with some time to edit your work. Insisting on writing the 4 paragraph format forces you to continuously meet the minimum 3 sentence requirement per paragraph. Sometimes, the image doesn't supply you with enough information to meet that sentence requirement. However, the 3 paragraph version allows you to meet the minimum requirement. I noticed that you struggled in this writing when it came to writing the paragraphs, all because you want to use the more complex, but not time friendly version of the paragraphs. Well, the choice is yours anyway. Use the 4 paragraph version and struggle with your writing every time if you wish. It really doesn't matter to me.

If you had used the 3 paragraph version, you would not have struggled with your information presentation because you would have had exactly 3 groups with which to write this essay:

Group 1: Summary overview
Group 2: All the daytime procedures
Group 3: All the nighttime procedures

Do you see how you are the making the writing difficult for yourself? It all about the grouping of the information, not the number of paragraphs you are presenting. The standard paragraph format 3, so do not overdo it. You are risking making more errors in this part of the test because of it.

@Holt
Thank you for the tips! I had better be flexible about paragraph structure.