Write about The Photo's strategy to achieve higher scores

If you want to hone your skill to the best, you should practice applying the below strategy for every question in Write about The Photo. As our members have applied, they upgraded their scores significantly.

This strategy is to help you optimize your skills to get the most out of it. Thus, we build it in detail to support your study easier and more efficiently; of course, you should practice along the way with us.     

Besides, you should know that Tips and Strategies only help you improve your scores by around 10-20 points. So you need to practice regularly and upgrade your writing generally to achieve your desired scores. We will be sharing “How to improve your performance for Writing questions” for your study soon.   

For now, let’s get down to business.  

1. Identify the main part                 

If you see these images, what is the main part of each of them?    

A	B	C

• In picture A, there are three fully-grown young people walking on a street in the daytime…
• In picture B, a young female waitress is standing and serving her customers….
• In picture C, we can see a huge green tree on the right…

Are they the main parts that you identified? If so, congratulations!     

But, do you know why we should classify them in the first place? Because when you Write about The Photo, you CAN NOT miss the main part, which helps you show people briefly what the photo is. Then later, you can describe it in detail by writing about other stuff around the main part.     

So please, do not ever forget to determine it in the beginning.  

2. Describe images strategically                 

Strategy is profoundly vital to delivering organized and attractive writing, which helps you aim for a higher score in Production.   

From now on, let’s use the below image as an example to apply all strategies.      

Speaking of strategies, there are two imperative parts you need to pay close attention to.    

a. Focus on the main part in detail                 

Earlier, you defined the main part: "a young female waitress is standing and serving her customers”.    

So, how could you describe everything about her before moving on to other stuff in the image?   This is our example:   

“This picture portrays a young female waitress standing and serving her customers roughly in the middle, and she is smiling with a man on the right.”    

You should only concentrate on one particular thing at a time to describe. Once you finish it, it’s time to move on to others because it will likely become a mess if you keep changing your people or objects to describe.    

Oh, wait for a second before we move on; do you know what tense you should use to describe an image? Thousands of students ask us for advice, so let’s clarify it before the strategy.    

Firstly, we use the Simple Tense to describe stuff in the image most of the time. It means you tell what is in the picture.   

• In the picture, I can see ...  
• There’s / There are ...  
• There isn’t a ... / There aren’t any ..  
• The photograph portrays/ depicts …    

Secondly, we use the Present Continuous to describe what is happening. For example:  

• The three friends are walking on the street and talking about something.  
• The young female waitress is standing and serving her customers. 
• There is nothing for us to apply the Simple Continuous in image C. If you see humans, you should use the Simple Continuous to describe their actions most of the time.

Lastly, you can use the past simple or the present perfect tense or others to describe something depending on the situation.  

For example, in image A, you may say something like, “It looks like they just met each other after a long time; that’s why they look so delighted”.   

b. Describe all other parts              

So, what should you describe next if you complete the main part? Some ideas below are for you.  

• A white bulb at the top right,  
• A plant in the top left-hand corner,  
• People are working on their laptops,  
• And lots of others.    

If we put them into writing, it should be like this:  

“This picture portrays a young female waitress standing and serving her customers roughly in the middle, and she is smiling with a man on the right. Besides, a white bulb is at the top right, and a plant is in the top left-hand corner.”  

In case you still have time, you can write more about other objects.     

Do you want to write like our sample answer? Keep exploring our next steps till the end.  

3. Learn the opening statements                

Once you already know the main part, your job is to make an opening statement about the image. So, how do you often do?   

Let's use these images again.

A	B	C

There is actually a couple of ways to start your writing.   

• In this image, we can see ….
• This is a picture of …
• This photograph portrays …
• There are … in this photo.

We take Image A to make an example for you.

This photograph is of three young inhabitants walking on the street in the daylight; they all look cheerful.     

How about you? Let’s try your way and share it with our community to grow together.    

4. Add details to your answer            

Duolingo English Test strongly recommends we write as much as possible as long as it’s related to the image. You cannot just label the picture, can you? Thus, we have several methodologies to make your answers longer but still right to the point and inviting.    

Let’s retake a look at our example.     

a. Write about the actions of the people           

What are the actions of those people if you write about it?  Some verbs you may use to describe the actions: looking at, holding a piece of paper and a pen, talking to, ordering food, working with laptops, or even smiling.     

It’s essential to talk about what they do because it’s one of the most effective ways to deliver a detailed answer.    

You simply need to define some actions in the image and describe them.  However, what if the image does not include anyone, such as in picture C. In this case, please follow our next tip.   

b. Describe the objects or people in detail           

In this tip, what else could we describe besides the actions? Yes, there are still many of them.    

• About people, you can describe: people’s clothes, accessories, or emotions.
• You can talk about other objects: what is it, their colors, sizes, or benefits.

If the picture does not have any people, let's get back to your question. We can write about a giant green tree, a small white house, beautiful ranges of mountains, a beautiful sky, and the sun at the top in picture C.    

c. Show the locations of everything           

This’s not less important compared to the previous two. Whether you write or speak about the photo, it’s genuinely critical to show others the locations of everything (ideally).     

You can check the below guide to apply appropriate words to show the locations in images.      

What should you write about our example image if you apply the direction above?  You may write something like this:  

• The waitress is roughly in the middle/ center.   
• The man in his grey shirt is about in the bottom right-hand corner.  
• The huge green tree is in the top left-hand corner.  
• The white bulb is at the top right.  

5. Make your prediction - If something isn’t clear            

You may probably have no time to make any predictions. However, this is an excellent notion of making your time perfect, just in case you do have.   

And if so, how do you make predictions? Let’s review our recommendations:  

• It seems like…
• It looks like…
• It might be…
• I guess…
• I think…
• I predict…
• I reckon…
• From my speculation…

For example, I predict this coffee shop provides excellent service because the waitress and her customers look delighted.  

6. Use punctuation and check errors            

a. Use appropriate punctuation            

If you check our strategy for the Read, then Write question type, you will see the same points below.     We all know how critical punctuation is in our writing; it helps you deliver the right impression to your reader. We use the comma “ , “ and full stop “ . “ very frequently compared to others. Thus, we will share how to use it effectively in our writing.     

The comma “ ,”   

The comma “ , “ is used to pause within or separate parts of sentences, making your thesis clearer and more attractive. Yes, there are three rules you can learn and apply using punctuation.     

• Rule 1: Use a comma to separate a series of nouns, adjectives, or verbs.    

Let’s look at our example again, can you find a list of nouns, adjectives, or verbs to make an example?  

The man in his grey shirt is sitting on a chair, holding the menu in his left hand, and looking directly at the waitress roughly in the middle.    

• Rule 2: Put a comma before a FANBOYS when connecting two independent clauses.    

First of all, you need to know that FANBOYS stands for “For And Nor But Or Yet So”. If you need to connect two independent clauses, please use an appropriate FANBOYS and put a comma before it.  

The man in his grey shirt is sitting on a chair, holding the menu in his left hand, and he looks directly at the waitress roughly in the middle.    

• Rule 3: Put a comma after adverbs.    

Adverbs are deeply imperative in terms of connecting sentences and sentences or emphasizing some points after them.   

The man in his grey shirt is sitting on a chair, holding the menu in his left hand, and he looks directly at the waitress roughly in the middle. Besides, his girlfriend looks directly at him while holding a menu in her left hand.

Note: We only shared the top common rules that test-takers can use most in their English proficiency tests. If you want to know more about how to use commas accurately, please go search it on Google.

The full stop “ .” 

The full stop “ . “ is used to pause longer between sentences, show when a point is made, or end suggestions or commands. You should always bear in mind to make not-too-long sentences, so you stand a better chance to lure others’ attention.     

Let’s practice together; when you see a paragraph below, where should you add commas, full stops, or other punctuation?  

This is an image of a young waitress talking to her customers roughly in the middle in detail she is talking to a man in the bottom right-hand corner, and another young woman is sitting on the opposite side of the man. Besides there are a sea of people in the background.  

Your answer should be like this:     

This is an image of a young waitress talking to her customers roughly in the middle. In detail, she is talking to a man in the bottom right-hand corner. And another young woman is sitting on the opposite side of the man. Besides, there are a sea of people in the background.  

b. Check errors           

We utterly acknowledge the limited time; sometimes, we do not possess enough time to write about all detail, far less correct them. Nevertheless, it’s still better to practice this properly in case you need it.    

So, speaking of checking errors, there are 03 categories you need to pay close attention to, including Spelling, Grammar, and Punctuation.     

Spelling

This is the easiest one as sometimes we type too fast, which turns out to be the wrong words. You simply need to pay close attention to your written words and fix it while going over the whole answer.    

Grammar

This aspect will impact your score enormously. Hence, it’s better to check it carefully.     

Punctuation

As you already know, punctuation’s clearly crucial to help you have an organized and coherent answer. By that, I mean you should practice our tips as much as possible to use them effectively.  

Do not worry! You will be great on your test day.           

Most of us will struggle to check or correct our mistakes when our time is about to end. As a result, we build automatically correcting systems to assist you in detecting almost every error. Since you can note down and practice again to avoid similar mistakes on your test day.   

*Practice makes perfect!           

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