By the end of this exercise, you can describe the main trends in a line graph accurately, using trend verbs, adverbs and the right prepositions with numbers.
Free IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 practice: describe a line graph with accurate trend verbs, adverbs and prepositions, then write your own report. Instant feedback.
In IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 you describe a graph, table, chart or diagram in at least 150 words. The whole Writing test lasts 60 minutes, and about 20 of them are usually spent on Task 1. Task 2 is worth twice as much, so do not spend longer than that.
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Study the graph and the table, then choose the word or phrase that matches the data for each gap.
The graph below shows how people in one European city travelled to work between 2014 and 2024. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. (Invented practice data.)
| Mode | 2014 | 2016 | 2018 | 2020 | 2022 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Car (solid line) | 52 | 50 | 49 | 41 | 38 | 35 |
| Bus (dashed line) | 30 | 31 | 29 | 30 | 28 | 31 |
| Bicycle (dotted line) | 12 | 13 | 13 | 22 | 25 | 27 |
The line graph compares the percentage of journeys to work made by car, by bus and by bicycle in a European city between 2014 and 2024.
Overall, car use over the period, while cycling rose sharply. The share of bus journeys but ended almost where it began.
In 2014, just over half of all journeys (52%) were made by car. This figure declined slightly to 49% by 2018 and then dropped to 41% in 2020. After that, car use continued to , reaching 35% in 2024.
Cycling followed the opposite pattern. It accounted for only 12% of journeys in 2014 and at around 13% until 2018. It then increased to 22% in 2020 and went on rising to 27% at the end of the period.
Bus journeys, by contrast, between 28% and 31% throughout the decade, finishing at 31%. By 2024, the gap between car and bicycle use had from 40 to just 8 percentage points.
You can describe a change with a verb and an adverb (rose sharply) or with an adjective and a noun (a sharp rise). Choose the form that fits each sentence.
Choose the preposition that gives the right meaning. All the figures come from the graph in Exercise A.
The table shows where the electricity in one country came from between 2000 and 2020 (invented practice data). An IELTS examiner will read your report: summarise the main features and make comparisons.
| Source | 2000 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coal | 60 | 52 | 41 | 30 | 22 |
| Gas | 25 | 27 | 30 | 28 | 26 |
| Wind and solar | 2 | 6 | 14 | 25 | 38 |
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