The graph below shows the different modes of transport used to travel to and from work in one European city in 1960, 1980 and 2000.
Sample Response
The provided bar graph compares the modes of transporttypes of transportation used by commuters in one European city in 1960, 1980, and 2000in three different years commencing from 1960. Four transportation types—traintransportation types- train, car, tube and bus are compared in the graph and it is evident that in this European city people used buses in early years but started preferring cars and tubes in later years to travel to and from workreach and return from their workplaces.
As is observed in the bar chartthe given diagram, the largest proportion of commuters (about 38%)the majority of the commuters (about 38%) in this city used buses in 1960. Tube use accounted for just over 25%The use of tube comprised over 25% while approximately 19% of passengersapproximately 19% passengers used trains. Only about 7% of passengersOnly 6% passengers used cars in this year which was much lower thanquite fewer than the proportions using other modesthe percentage of other transportation users. After 20 years, the proportions of train and car usersthe percentages of the train and the car users increased significantly while tube and bus users decreased. In this year (1980), more than 22% of usersmore than 22% users used cars and the percentages of train users exceeded the passengers of bus users. Finally, in the year 2000, the proportion of car users rose sharplythe percentages of car users rocketed and reached about 38%reached to bout 37%. The percentages of other transportation users decreased except for the tube that was used by one in four passengers1 out of four passengers in this year. Interestingly the use of bus decreased to only 15% and that was lower than the proportion using any other modelower than the commuters of any other transportation type to commute to and from their offices.
Why this response received Band 6.0
The response provides a clear overview of the broad shift from buses towards cars and selects figures for every transport mode across the period. Its main weakness is factual precision: the 1980 bus figure is miscompared with trains, and the description of later tube and train trends is blurred. The priority is to organise comparisons around accurate start-to-finish changes and then proofread recurring grammatical forms.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The main shift towards car use is identified and all four modes receive relevant coverage, but several comparisons and trend claims do not match the chart precisely.
Correct the 1980 comparison and explicitly report that train use rises overall while bus use falls sharply from the highest to the lowest share.
Coherence and Cohesion
The introduction and detailed paragraph form a logical structure, and information moves broadly from 1960 through 2000, though the dense final section hampers clarity.
Divide the details into an early-year comparison and a later-trend paragraph so that changes across modes are easier to compare.
Lexical Resource
The report shows adequate range for describing proportions and movement, but several awkward collocations and imprecise noun phrases reduce naturalness.
Use standard forms such as the proportion of commuters, rose to, fell to, and users of each mode.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of complex sentences is used, but errors with articles, quantifiers, comparison structures, and verb patterns recur throughout the report.
Proofread percentage noun phrases and comparative clauses, correcting forms such as “reached to” and “lower than the commuters.”
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The graph below shows the different modes of transport used to travel to and from work in one European city in 1960, 1980 and 2000.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.