The table below gives information about the rail transport in five countries in 2015.
Sample Response
The table gives five selected countries’five selected country’s railway-relatedrailway related information which includes the numbers of rail userspercentages of railway users, the distance they travelled on averagetravelled on an average and the amount of freight carried by railamount of weight the railways carried in 2015. Overall, China and India had the largest numbers of rail usersChinese and Indian people used train transportation more and Canada transported the highest volume of cargoamount of cargos by railon railroads. As can be seen inon the table, Canada carried by far the largest volume of freighthighest cargo, more than 34 billion tons, despite the fact that Canada had the fewest rail usersthe railway was less popular among Canadians as only 0.9 million people used it and recorded 90 passenger-kilometres per headwith 90 kilometer distance per passenger in 2015. This contrasted greatly with China where exactly 34 million people used rail transportused railroad and each person travelled 2,180 passenger-kilometres per headroughly 2200 km distance on the train. India had the second-largest number of rail usersRail journey was the second most popular in India as 21 million people used it in 2015 with an average of nearly 1500 km passenger-kilometres per headtravel log for each passenger. Two countries which were almost similar in terms of their railway usage were Malaysia and the UAE. In both countriesIn both in these countries around 800 passenger-kilometres per head were recordedaround 800 passenger km was travelled in 2015 while they had 7.5–8.9 million passengers8 -9 million passengers.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response clearly identifies the leading passenger markets and Canada’s exceptional cargo figure, and most selected numbers match the table closely. Its main limitation is uneven coverage: cargo data for the other four countries is virtually omitted, while units are occasionally mislabeled as percentages or expressed awkwardly. Prioritise balanced comparison of all three measures, using the table’s exact units and grouping countries by notable highs, lows, and similarities.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
A clear overview and mostly accurate passenger comparisons address the task, but the cargo measure is represented almost entirely by Canada alone.
Compare Canada’s 34.2 billion tonnes with the other four cargo figures and state that rail users are measured in millions, not percentages.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information moves logically from the overview to Canada, China, India, Malaysia, and the UAE, although the single-paragraph format limits grouping.
Separate the overview and organise details into one paragraph for passenger use and distance and another for cargo comparisons.
Lexical Resource
There is adequate range for comparison, but awkward or inaccurate expressions such as ‘cargos’, ‘travel log’, and ‘passenger km was travelled’ recur.
Use precise terms such as ‘cargo’, ‘average passenger-kilometres per person’, and ‘million rail users’.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses several complex structures, but possessive, article, preposition, number, and agreement errors are frequent though meaning remains clear.
Revise noun phrases and agreement, especially ‘five selected countries’, ‘on average’, ‘90 kilometres’, and ‘in both countries’.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The table below gives information about the rail transport in five countries in 2015.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.