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ielts writing

IELTS Report, topic: Table describing the amount of road traffic in London (from IELTS High Scorer’s Choice series, Academic Set 4)

This is a model response to a Writing Task 1 topic from High Scorer’s Choice IELTS Practice Tests book series (reprinted with permission). This answer is close to IELTS Band 9.

Set 4 Academic book, Practice Test 18

Writing Task 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The table below shows the total amount of road traffic in the London borough of Enfield for the years 2008 – 2015.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

You should write at least 150 words.

Table of road traffic in the London borough of Enfield (from IELTS High Scorer's Choice series, Academic Set 4 book)

Sample Band 9 Report

The table shows six categories of the total road traffic in the London borough of Enfield for the years 2008 to 2015. The totals are all given in thousands of vehicle miles.

Overall, it is evident that pedal cycles travelled the least and cars – the most.

The fewest road miles were completed by pedal cycles. There were 1542K miles completed in 2008 and this steadily rose to 1712K miles in 2011, before falling again to a low of 1017K miles in 2014. 2015 saw a rise again to 1360K miles. Motorcycles experienced a contrasting trend, miles dropping from 2008 to 2010 before rising again to 2014, followed by a small drop in 2015.

Light goods vehicles also showed a general trend, going down from 2008 with 110,150K miles to 87,397K miles in 2011 and then rising again to 115,311K miles in 2015.

Cars showed the highest miles completed, though there was no real trend, with numbers going up or down randomly in all years. The highest figure was 644,208K miles in 2011 and the lowest was 578,072K in 2012. Buses and coaches and heavy goods vehicle also showed no discernable trends.

The totals for all vehicles also showed no apparent trend with figures going up or down in following years. The year with the highest miles was 812,323K in 2011 and the lowest was 747,214K miles in 2012.

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IELTS essay, topic: Young people aren’t spending their weekends doing outdoor activities such as hiking or mountaineering (reasons and solutions)

This essay topic was seen in a recent IELTS test in Australia

These days, many young people are not spending their weekends and holidays doing outdoor activities such as hiking or mountaineering. Why is that happening? How can they be encouraged to spend more time in the natural environment?

Sample Band 8 Essay

Nowadays, the younger generation tends to avoid recreational activities such as hiking or alpinism. It seems that young people prefer to spend their weekends indoors, gaming or engaging in other online activities. If that is the case, by promoting sports more actively and organising sports competitions, the schools could counteract this trend.

Living in the era of technology, the wide availability and variety of online entertainment are compelling young people to spend a lot of their free time indoors, using their gadgets. Numerous relatively cheap forms of amusement, such as online games, videos, audiobooks and plenty of other activities, tempt teenagers to stay at home and lead more sedentary lifestyles. A recent survey revealed that the vast majority of students would prefer spending their weekends playing computer games, rather than in the nature. That is one clear reason why our modern youth is less interested in recreational sports.

To address this issue, the school management could intervene and offer a better range of outdoor sports activities and competitions, both within the school curriculum and as extra-curricular activities. For example, high schools could increase the number of weekly football, running and climbing classes, and organise competitions at the end of each term. As a result, pushed by their desire to win, students would do more walking, jogging, running and mountaineering during the school term, in preparation for the competition. This would reduce the time spent online, lessen the students’ dependence on the Internet for entertainment, and eventually boost their desire to spend more time enjoying the natural environment.

To sum up, screen addiction plays a major role in young people’s avoidance of various outdoor activities. Opening up more recreational sports and offering frequent competitions on school grounds is a great way to motivate more students to spend their leisure time in the nature.

Teacher’s comment: All parts of the task are sufficiently addressed in this response. The writer has developed and supported their ideas well. The use of substitution and referencing helps to maintain coherence throughout the essay (both within and between the paragraphs). The correct use of paragraphing helps the writer to keep their ideas and arguments organised. The range of vocabulary is wide, including uncommon lexical items that have been used appropriately. The bulk of the sentences are error-free, and the writer has used a variety of linguistic constructions. This essay is likely to get Band 8 – 8.5 in IELTS.

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