Question: The graph below gives information on the performance of a train company in October and November in 2008. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Band 8+ Sample Answer:
(Intro & Overview) The line graphs displays the percentage of trains that ran late or were cancelled for one train company over a seven week period in October and November 2008. Overall, we can see that there was a significant upward trend both both lateness and cancellations, despite some fluctuations in the middle of the period.
(Detail 1) Turning to the detail and looking at percentages of trains running late, initially figures were relatively low at 20% in the week first of October. After a small rise, the proportion of late trains plummeted to a low of 5% at the end of October. Thereafter it soared to a peak of 55% in mid-November before ending the period a week later on 40%.
(Detail 2) Regarding the proportions of trains cancelled, this followed a similar trend to that of lateness with an initial low figure of 1% at the beginning of October but then shot up to a peak of 7% a week later, before dropping back now to 1% a week after that. This was followed by a more steady rise to finish the seven week period on 4% (183 words).
Words: Nick Kemp, former IELTS examiner.
Image: Cambridge