Academic Task 1
IELTS Academic Writing Task 1: Travel to school (bar chart)
Question type: Academic Task 1: bar chart
The question
The bar chart below shows the percentage of children in one city who travelled to school by four different methods in 2000 and 2020.
- 2000
- 2020
View the data as a table
| 2000 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|
| Walking | 45 | 28 |
| Bicycle | 15 | 9 |
| Bus | 25 | 23 |
| Car | 15 | 40 |
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
Write your own answer first. Then get an estimated band and corrections from our AI marker.
Answer this questionHow to approach it
- With two years, look at what rose, what fell and what stayed the same.
- Overview: a shift from walking and cycling to the car, with bus use almost unchanged.
- Compare rankings as well as figures: which method was most common in each year?
Model answer
185 words (minimum 150). Written to show the features of a Band 8-level answer.
The bar chart compares the ways in which children in one city travelled to school in 2000 and 2020, showing the percentage who used each of four methods.
Overall, there was a clear shift away from walking and cycling and towards travelling by car. Walking was the most common method in 2000, but by 2020 it had been overtaken by the car. Bus use changed very little.
In 2000, almost half of all children, 45%, walked to school, which was three times the proportion who went by car, at 15%. Twenty years later, the figure for walking had dropped to 28%, while car travel had risen dramatically to 40%, making it the most popular method.
Cycling also became less common. The proportion of children who rode a bicycle to school fell from 15% in 2000, the same as for cars, to 9% in 2020, when it was clearly the least used method. In contrast, the percentage travelling by bus was almost unchanged, falling only slightly from 25% to 23%. As a result, the bus went from being the second most popular method to the third.
Useful language from this answer
- a clear shift away from … and towards …
- summarising a change in the overview
- had been overtaken by
- something else became larger
- three times the proportion who
- comparing two percentages
- had risen dramatically
- a large increase by a later date
- was almost unchanged
- very little difference between two dates
Common mistakes with this question
- Missing the overview. A report without a clear summary of the main trends cannot score above Band 5 for Task Achievement.
- Describing 2000 fully and then 2020 fully, with no comparison between the years.
- Saying parents 'prefer' driving or that roads are dangerous. The chart does not show reasons.
Now write your own answer
Reading a model helps, but writing is what improves your band. Answer this question and get an estimated band for all four criteria, with corrections taken from your own sentences.
This model answer was written by TestWise Prep to show the features of a high-scoring answer. It is not official IELTS material. Use it for ideas and language, not to memorise.