DET Write About the Photo
A photograph, and about one minute to describe it in writing. It appears three times, and the limiting factor for most candidates is not vocabulary but how much they manage to write in sixty seconds.
Three or four sentences, varied
- What it is — "This photograph shows a group of people waiting at a bus stop."
- Detail — who, what they are doing, what they are wearing or holding.
- Setting — where it appears to be, what the weather or time of day looks like.
- Inference — what may be happening or about to happen.
That fourth sentence is where range comes from: it needs a modal or a conditional, which a plain description never produces.
Writing fast and accurately
- Start typing immediately — planning costs a quarter of the time available.
- Use the present continuous for what is happening; it is natural and unforced here.
- Do not stop to fix a typo mid-sentence; finish the sentence first.
- Avoid a memorised opener. A fixed phrase before three different photos is visible.
If you do not know the word for something in the photo, describe it. "The thing used for carrying water" scores; stopping to search your memory does not.
Write About the Photo — FAQs
2 questions
About a minute per photo, three times.
Describe what you can see. The item scores English, not object recognition.
More writing question types
Sources
Written from the test board's own published material and checked on 1 October 2026.