Pie Chart: Commuting Methods Report (Band 9)
Band-9 Task 1 report on commuting-method pie charts, with modal-split vocabulary and single-pie depth technique.
The pie chart shows how commuters travel to work in a European city. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features.
Band-9 sample report
The chart dissects commuting in a European city, where public transport dominates and private cars are a minority habit.
Overall, metro and bus together carry nearly three-fifths of commuters, while cars account for barely a fifth. Cycling and walking split most of the remainder, leaving negligible shares for motorcycles and taxis.
The metro alone moves 35% of workers — the single largest share — with buses adding 24%, so six in ten commuters ride publicly funded transport. Cars follow at 21%, meaning private vehicles trail the metro by fourteen points despite their cultural prominence. This inversion — transit first, cars second — marks the city as firmly European in mobility culture.
Active travel claims a healthy minority: cycling at 9% and walking at 7%, together exceeding the car deficit and reflecting compact urban form. Motorcycles and taxis barely register at 2% each — rounding errors in a system built around rails, roads shared with buses, and bike lanes.
The implication is a city designed against car dependence: when transit is frequent and cycling safe, majorities abandon driving voluntarily. Modal split, the chart suggests, follows infrastructure rather than preference.
(192 words)
Why this scores Band 9
Task Achievement (9): Overview quantifies the headline (three-fifths public, one-fifth cars) immediately. Slices ranked and grouped (transit pair, car contrast, active pair, negligible pair) — full coverage without listing.
Coherence & Cohesion (9): Dominant/middle/negligible hierarchy with the inversion insight mid-report. "Car deficit," "modal split" sustain transport register.
Lexical Resource (9): Mobility precision: "dissects," "modal split," "trail by fourteen points," "compact urban form," "rounding errors," "car dependence." Confident domain control.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy (9): Em-dash qualifications, colon-led findings, concessive clauses. Exact.
Vocabulary to steal
- dissects — breaks down analytically
- minority habit — uncommon practice
- cultural prominence — perceived importance
- inversion — reversed expectation
- rounding errors — negligible shares (witty precision)
- follows infrastructure — design-determines-behavior close
FAQs
Single pie with no time: how do I fill 170 words?
Rank slices, group small ones, then interpret: what does car dominance imply for congestion? Rank plus grouping plus one implication fills the space.
How do I avoid listing slices mechanically?
Vary presentation: lead with the largest, contrast the smallest, pair middle ones. firstly-secondly scaffolding is a band cap, not a strategy.
Can I suggest why patterns exist?
One sentence of plausible context (extensive metro networks explain rail share) adds depth. Keep it clearly secondary to description.
Master every chart type in the Task 1 samples library.