The table below shows the number of kilometres passengers travelled on five types of transport in a European country in 1995, 2005 and 2015.
Sample Response
The supplied table presentstable data presents information on the distance travelled by passengers in a European country in five modes of transportdifferent modes of transportations in 1995, 2005 and 2015from 1995 to 2015. As is given in the illustration, buses and rails were the most preferred transportation types but the air travel gained popularity in recent years. According to the given data, the shortest distances were travelledthe least number of distance was travelled by bicycle and motorbikeusing bicycles and motorbikes by passengers in this European country. PassengersCommuters in this country travelled only 2 billion km by bicycle2 billion km. using bicycles in 1995 and it was the same in 2015. Similarly, only passengers travelled 5 billion km by motorbike, and this figure reached5 billion km were travelled using motorbikes which reached 6 billion after 20 years. Interestingly, the air traveltravels increased substantiallygained huge popularity over the periodin later years as passengers travelled 20 billion km by air20 billion km distance was passed using aeroplanes in 2015 while this was merely 2 billion km 20 years earlier. Buses and trains were the most preferred transportation types as the highest distance was travelled by the passengers in these two modes of transportation. However, there was an increase in the distance travelled by trains (38 and 60 billion km in 2005 and 2015) while it decreased in the case of the bus (56 and 42 billion km in 2005 and 2015 respectively). The total distance travelled by passengers increased from 103 billion km in 1995 to 130 billion km in 2015increased to 130 billion km. in 2015 in this country from 103 billion km. in 1995.
Why this response received Band 6.0
The response selects most transport categories and gives a clear broad trend, with the sharp rise in air travel especially well identified. Its main weakness is data accuracy: bus and rail figures are assigned to the wrong years, alongside several awkward transport collocations. The priority is to verify every value against its row and year before writing comparisons.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The report covers all five modes, provides a relevant overview, and accurately highlights air growth and the overall total, but several bus and rail figures are linked to incorrect years.
Check each row across all three columns and report the bus and rail sequences accurately before selecting supporting comparisons.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information progresses from an overview to individual modes and totals, but the single dense paragraph and repeated phrasing make the organisation somewhat mechanical.
Separate the overview from two grouped detail paragraphs, such as lower-use modes and the dominant bus-and-rail trends.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is sufficient for trends and comparisons, though recurrent collocation problems such as ‘number of distance’ and ‘air travels’ reduce precision.
Use standard data-reporting combinations such as ‘distance travelled’, ‘air travel’, and ‘modes of transport’.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of simple and complex structures communicates the main message, but article, agreement, noun-form, and clause-control errors recur throughout.
Review plural and uncountable transport nouns, then simplify long clauses so subjects and numerical references remain clear.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The table below shows the number of kilometres passengers travelled on five types of transport in a European country in 1995, 2005 and 2015.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.