The city and the car
A Task 1 table report and a Task 2 discuss-both-views essay, written, self-assessed, and shown beside the Band 7.5+ models I wrote.
How to use this. Write both tasks in the boxes below, Task 1 in twenty minutes, Task 2 in forty, as in the real test. When you've finished, open Self-assessment to mark your own work against the four criteria and compare it with the Band 7.5+ models I wrote for each task. You can download a copy of everything to keep. For a person to mark your writing against the criteria, the first lesson includes one marked Task 2.
Describe the table.
Recommended 20 minutes · at least 150 words
The table below shows the percentage of commuters in one city who used four different modes of transport to travel to work in 2005, 2015 and 2025.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
| Mode | 2005 | 2015 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Car | 62% | 55% | 48% |
| Bus | 18% | 17% | 15% |
| Train | 12% | 16% | 20% |
| Bicycle | 8% | 12% | 17% |
Write the essay.
Recommended 40 minutes · at least 250 words · carries twice the marks
In many cities, the use of private cars is increasingly discouraged, in favour of public transport and cycling. Some people believe that this makes cities far better places to live, while others argue that it creates more problems than it solves.
Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
Mark your own work.
Be honest with yourself against the four criteria, the same four an examiner uses. Then read the model answers and see exactly what moves a response up a band.
Task Response
Coherence & Cohesion
Lexical Resource
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
Where marks are lost, and the models I wrote
What usually holds a table report at 6.5. Table answers rarely lose marks on the data itself; they lose them on selection. The most common pattern is a march through every cell with no overview, or an overview so vague (the figures rose and fell) that it names no real trend. Precision slips follow: a percentage point reported as a percentage, fell at for fell to, and repeated agreement errors with per cent and mode.
The target · Band 7.5+ · modelThe table shows the proportion of commuters in one city who travelled to work by four modes of transport in 2005, 2015 and 2025. Overall, the car remained the most popular choice throughout, but its share fell steadily, while the train and the bicycle grew, so that the gap between private transport and the more sustainable modes narrowed markedly over the twenty-year period. In 2005 the car dominated, accounting for 62% of journeys, more than three times the share of the bus, the next most common mode, at 18%. The train and the bicycle were each used by relatively few commuters, at 12% and 8% respectively. By 2025 the picture had shifted. Car use had fallen to 48%, a drop of 14 percentage points, and bus use had eased slightly, from 18% to 15%. Over the same period train use rose from 12% to 20%, while cycling more than doubled, climbing from 8% to 17%. Together the train and the bicycle accounted for over a third of commutes by the end of the period, having made up only a fifth at the start.
Why it scores. An overview stated up front and reinforced (the car declining while the train and bicycle rise, the gap narrowing), figures selected rather than listed, and a real comparison, the shift from a fifth to over a third, that a 6.5 usually gestures at but does not name.
What usually holds a discuss-both-views essay at 6.5. The most common shortfall is balance and stance: the essay explains one view in detail and the other in a single sentence, or discusses both fairly but never gives the opinion the task explicitly asks for. The other recurring limiters are body paragraphs that list points rather than developing one idea, and comma splices where two full clauses are joined with only a comma.
The target · Band 7.5+ · model paragraphsA body paragraph that develops one view fully. Those who welcome the decline of the car point above all to the quality of urban life. A city that moves its people by train, bus and bicycle is quieter, cleaner and safer than one choked with traffic: air pollution falls, streets become places to walk rather than corridors to drive through, and the space once given over to parking can be returned to parks, homes and cafés. Cities such as Amsterdam and Copenhagen are often held up as proof that reducing car dependence does not paralyse a city but, on the contrary, makes it more pleasant and more prosperous.
A conclusion that gives a clear opinion. In conclusion, although restricting cars undeniably causes real difficulties, particularly for those in outer districts where public transport is poor, I believe the benefits to a city as a whole outweigh them. The answer is not to abandon the policy but to introduce it fairly, making sure that reliable alternatives are in place before the car is priced or designed out of the centre.
Why it scores. Both views are given real weight, the opinion the task demands is stated and held to, and each paragraph builds one idea to a point rather than listing, the three moves a 6.5 most often misses.
These are models I wrote for this paper, set beside the errors that most often hold a response at Band 6.5. The band-6.5 description is a common pattern, not a real student's script. In a lesson, one of your own Task 2s is marked the same way, against the four criteria.
Take your work with you.
Download your two answers alongside the target models, so you can revise them later or bring them to a lesson.
That's the latest paper. Browse them all: all writing papers.
Send a task. Get it back marked.
A paper tells you the question. It can’t tell you why your answer sits at 6.5.
Write your response to the Task 2 above and send it to me. I’ll mark it in detail against the four assessment criteria and return it to you annotated, line by line, so you can see exactly where the band is sitting and what is holding it down. Written work is handled this way around the lessons, sent over and returned marked between sessions, which keeps the fifty minutes themselves free for speaking. The first lesson is a full assessment. Regular lessons are £20 for fifty minutes, one to one, in proper British English.