# IELTS Writing Task 1 bar chart A bar chart compares quantities across categories, often for two or more years or groups at the same time, so your report is built on comparisons: the highest and lowest, the biggest changes and how the rankings shift. The examiner looks for a clear overview of the main differences, key features selected and reported, comparisons made where relevant, and figures that match the chart. ## Structure 1. **Introduction**: Paraphrase the prompt: what is being compared, for which groups, and in which years. Openers: The bar chart compares ... / The chart illustrates the proportion of ... in ... / The bar chart shows how ... differed across ... 2. **Overview**: Name the largest and smallest categories and the most significant change, without detailed figures. Openers: Overall, ... was the most ... in every year, although ... / The most striking feature is ... / In general, ..., whereas ... 3. **Body 1**: Compare the biggest or most changed categories with their key figures. Openers: In 2005, ... accounted for ... / ... was by far the most common ... / The largest share was ... 4. **Body 2**: Compare the remaining categories, linking them to the ones in Body 1. Openers: By comparison, ... / The most dramatic change was in ... / The remaining categories ... ## Key language ### Comparatives and superlatives - **the most / least common**: The car was the most common way to get to work. - **far / considerably / slightly higher than**: Car use was far higher than bus use in 2005. - **by far the largest**: Driving was by far the largest category. ### Comparison structures - **twice / three times as many ... as**: More than three times as many workers drove as took the bus in 2005. - **whereas / while**: Cycling grew, whereas car use fell. - **compared with**: Only 4% cycled in 2005, compared with 16% in 2025. - **almost equal to / just behind**: By 2025, cycling was just behind the train. ### Ranking - **the second most popular**: The bus was the second most popular mode in every year. - **followed by**: The car came first, followed by the bus. - **overtake / move ahead of**: Cycling moved ahead of walking after 2005. ## The task The bar chart below shows the main ways in which workers in one city travelled to work in 2005, 2015 and 2025. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words. How workers in one city travelled to work, 2005, 2015 and 2025 (%) (%) | | Car | Bus | Train | Bicycle | Walking | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | 2005 | 58 | 18 | 12 | 4 | 8 | | 2015 | 49 | 20 | 15 | 9 | 7 | | 2025 | 38 | 19 | 17 | 16 | 10 | Chart by Testmigo. The data is invented for practice. ## Band 6 to 9 sample answers ### Band 6 The bar chart shows how people in one city went to work in 2005, 2015 and 2025. There are five types of transport, car, bus, train, bicycle and walking. Overall, car was the most popular in all years but it decreased, and bicycle increased. Car was used by 58% of workers in 2005. In 2015 it was 49% and in 2025 it was 38%, so it went down a lot. Bus was 18% in 2005, 20% in 2015 and 19% in 2025, so it did not change much. Train was 12% in 2005 and then it went up to 15% and 17% in 2015 and 2025. Bicycle was the lowest in 2005 with only 4%. But it increased a lot to 9% in 2015 and 16% in 2025, so it was nearly the same as train. Walking was 8% in 2005 and it decreased to 7% in 2015, but in 2025 it increased to 10%. To sum up, more people used bicycle and train and less people used car, but car was still the most popular way to go to work. _This Band 6 report covers all five modes with correct figures and has an overview, but the overview is thin and the body reports each bar in turn with little comparison between modes. Vocabulary is repetitive ("was", "went down a lot", "increased a lot"), articles are missing ("car was", "bicycle increased") and "less people" is an error, which keeps Lexical Resource and Grammatical Range and Accuracy at 6. For Band 7, group the modes by trend and compare them directly, for example cycling against the train._ ### Band 7 The bar chart compares the proportion of workers in one city who used five different modes of transport to commute in 2005, 2015 and 2025. Overall, the car remained the most common way of travelling to work, although its share fell considerably over the twenty years. Cycling, by contrast, saw the biggest growth, while the other modes changed only slightly. In 2005, well over half of commuters (58%) drove to work, but this figure dropped to 49% in 2015 and then to 38% in 2025. The bus was the second most popular choice throughout, with its share staying at around one fifth, between 18% and 20%. Train use grew gradually, from 12% to 17%. The most dramatic change was in cycling. Only 4% of workers commuted by bicycle in 2005, which was the lowest figure for any mode, but this proportion has quadrupled to 16% by 2025, almost equal to the train. Walking followed a slightly uneven pattern, it dipped from 8% to 7% before rising to 10% in the final year. _This Band 7 report has a clear overview naming the leading mode, its decline and the fastest-growing mode, and the body groups the modes logically with some useful comparisons ("the second most popular choice throughout", "almost equal to the train"). There are minor slips, a tense error ("has quadrupled ... by 2025") and a comma splice before "it dipped". A Band 8 answer would make comparisons in every sentence and use the data language more precisely and without errors._ ### Band 8 The bar chart illustrates how commuters in one city travelled to work in 2005, 2015 and 2025, broken down into five modes of transport. The clearest trend is the steady move away from the car, which nevertheless remained the dominant mode in every year. Cycling expanded more than any other option, whereas the bus and walking stayed relatively stable. Driving accounted for 58% of journeys to work in 2005, more than three times the share of any other mode. However, this proportion shrank by roughly ten percentage points per decade, to 49% and then 38%. Over the same period, the train gained ground modestly, rising from 12% to 17%, while the bus held a fairly constant share of between 18% and 20%, keeping it in second place. Cycling showed the most striking change. It was the least common way to commute in 2005, at just 4%, yet by 2025 its share had quadrupled to 16%, only one point behind the train. Walking, on the other hand, changed little, slipping from 8% to 7% before recovering to 10%, which made it the least popular mode by the end of the period. _This Band 8 report selects and compares key features throughout: the car's lead is measured against every other mode, its fall is summarised per decade, and cycling is set against the train. Vocabulary is wide and precise ("gained ground modestly", "percentage points", "slipping", "recovering"), and complex sentences are handled without error. To reach Band 9, the report could group related modes as the Band 9 answer does (the bus and the train as public transport) and interpret figures more sharply, for example that fewer than two in five workers drove by the end._ ### Band 9 The bar chart shows the share of workers in one city who used each of five modes of transport to get to work in 2005, 2015 and 2025. Overall, the car was consistently the most widely used mode, but its dominance weakened markedly over the period. The most significant gains were made by cycling, while the remaining modes saw only minor changes. Car use declined substantially across the two decades. In 2005, 58% of commuters drove to work, a figure that fell to 49% in 2015 and to 38% in 2025, meaning that fewer than two in five workers commuted by car by the end of the period. Public transport, by comparison, held up well: the bus consistently attracted around a fifth of commuters, peaking at 20% in 2015, and the train's share rose steadily from 12% to 17%. Cycling underwent the most dramatic transformation. Having been the least common mode in 2005, chosen by only 4% of workers, it climbed to 9% a decade later and reached 16% in 2025, a fourfold increase. Walking, meanwhile, remained a minor option throughout, dipping slightly to 7% before rising to 10%. _This Band 9 report fully meets the task: the overview captures both the car's continued lead and its weakening dominance, and every key feature is reported with exact figures and meaningful comparisons, such as "fewer than two in five workers". Paragraphs are organised by the story the data tells rather than bar by bar, cohesion is seamless, and the wide range of vocabulary and structures ("Having been the least common mode") is used naturally and without error, which is why it sits at the top band._ ## Common mistakes - **No overview, so the reader never learns which mode was most popular or what changed most.** Write an "Overall, ..." paragraph that names the largest category and the biggest change, such as the fall in car use and the rise in cycling. - **Getting the length wrong: reading out every bar in order, or stopping under 150 words.** Aim for about 170-190 words that select the key bars and compare them. An answer under 150 words loses marks. - **Mixing tenses, for example "car use falls to 38% in 2025".** Use past tenses for past years ("fell to 38% in 2025"), and the past perfect for "by" points ("had quadrupled by 2025"). - **Adding reasons or opinions, such as "because the city built cycle lanes" or "which is good for the environment".** Report only what the bars show. Causes and opinions belong in Task 2, not Task 1. - **Making the category the subject of every sentence: "Car was 58%", "Bicycle was 4%".** Say what the figure measures: "58% of workers travelled by car" or "the proportion of workers who cycled rose to 16%".