1. Understand the task
Use this original Academic Task 1 practice to work on trend selection, equal intervals and cautious crossover language. Write at least 150 words and allow about 20 minutes for the whole task. These length and timing points follow official IELTS Writing format guidance.
Original practice task
A changing municipal bus fleet
The line graph shows the numbers of electric and diesel buses operated by the fictional town of Riverton at five dates from 2016 to 2024. Summarise the main patterns and make relevant comparisons. Write at least 150 words.
| Bus type | 2016 | 2018 | 2020 | 2022 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electric buses | 12 | 20 | 28 | 44 | 60 |
| Diesel buses | 68 | 60 | 52 | 36 | 20 |
Allow about 20 minutes including planning and checking. This timer counts up and does not submit your writing.
2. Make a focused plan
Start with the axes. The horizontal axis gives five observations two years apart; the vertical axis gives numbers of buses, not percentages or passenger journeys. The total is 80 at every observation. That constant total matters because the graph describes a changing composition within a stable fleet.
- Find the endpoints. Electric buses go from 12 to 60, while diesel buses move from 68 to 20. Both change by 48 buses in opposite directions.
- Check the intervals. Electric numbers rise by eight in each of the first two intervals and by sixteen in each of the final two. The increase is not equally steep throughout.
- Locate the change in leadership. Diesel is ahead in 2020; electric is ahead in 2022. The observations do not give the exact date of the crossover.
- Group the series. Describe the early period together, then the later period. Listing every electric figure before starting diesel can hide useful comparisons.
For an overview, choose the opposite trends, the reversal in the dominant type, and perhaps the unchanged total. Do not explain the change with invented environmental policy. Even a plausible reason is not evidence provided by this graph. A straight connecting line helps display the observations, but it does not establish the exact count on every day between them.
Write your own response
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3. Compare the annotated model
Write first, then compare choices rather than memorising phrases. This original model is an instructional example, not an examiner-marked response; no band score is claimed.
Read the model and paragraph notes
The line graph compares the numbers of electric and diesel buses in Riverton’s municipal fleet at two-year intervals between 2016 and 2024. The figures refer to vehicles rather than the number of services or passengers.
Overall, the electric fleet expanded while the number of diesel buses declined. Electric vehicles became the more numerous type between the 2020 and 2022 observations. Despite this reversal, the combined fleet contained 80 buses at each date shown.
In 2016, Riverton operated 12 electric buses and 68 diesel vehicles. By 2018, these figures had changed to 20 and 60 respectively, and in 2020 they stood at 28 and 52. Thus, the gap between the two types narrowed from 56 buses at the beginning to 24 four years later.
The subsequent changes were larger. Electric buses increased by 16 to reach 44 in 2022, when the diesel total was 36. The same size of change occurred in the final interval: by 2024, there were 60 electric buses compared with only 20 diesel buses. Over the full period, each category changed by 48 vehicles, with electric buses accounting for three quarters of the fleet at the final observation.
Why this response is organised this way
- The introduction identifies the measure and observation period. “Fleet” provides a concise name for the vehicles considered together.
- The overview presents the main direction and reversal before adding precise support. “Between the observations” avoids assigning an unsupported calendar date.
- The early-period paragraph combines both series so that the narrowing gap is visible.
- The final paragraph compares interval changes. The fraction of three quarters is valid because 60 divided by 80 equals 0.75.
4. Practise a precise revision
Classify each statement as accurate, inaccurate, or more precise than the data allow. Then rewrite the doubtful claims using only information actually displayed.
- Electric buses rose by eight vehicles in every two-year interval.
- Riverton had exactly 40 electric buses in January 2021.
- Electric buses tripled between 2018 and 2024.
- The number of diesel bus passengers fell to 20 in 2024.
Check the four statements
1: Inaccurate. The increases are eight, eight, sixteen and sixteen. Write: “The increase was larger in each of the final two intervals than in either earlier interval.”
2: Too precise. The graph gives no January 2021 observation. Write: “Electric buses overtook diesel buses between the 2020 and 2022 observations.” Do not estimate an exact date unless the task requires an explicitly labelled estimate.
3: Accurate. The number rises from 20 to 60. “Tripled” refers to the final number being three times the starting number; the increase itself is 40.
4: Inaccurate measure. The figure is 20 diesel vehicles, not 20 passengers. Keep the noun attached to the axis unit.
5. Review and try again
Underline every trend verb in your draft. Next to it, write the two values that justify the claim. Check whether “steadily” or “sharply” really fits the sequence rather than choosing those words because they sound academic. A precise numerical comparison often communicates more than an exaggerated adjective.
For a second attempt, organise the detail paragraphs by bus type instead of period. Keep the overview unchanged, then decide which organisation makes the reversal easiest to follow. Neither arrangement is compulsory. The useful test is whether a reader can reconstruct the important pattern from your report without rereading a list of disconnected numbers.
Format checked on 15 October 2026 against IELTS Writing format. Task, model, visual material and practice explanations are original. This independent lesson is not an official IELTS test.