Pick out the main features of this table for your overview, write your report on a 20-minute timer, then compare it with a band-8 model answer.
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The table below shows car ownership and commuting habits in four cities.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
| City | Households with a car (%) | Commute (minutes) | Use public transport (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 90 | 31 | 6 |
| Moscow | 48 | 43 | 62 |
| Tokyo | 45 | 40 | 57 |
| Mumbai | 17 | 47 | 52 |
GoPrep wrote this practice question in the style of the exam. It is not an official IELTS question.
An overview names the main trends or differences in one or two sentences, without numbers. These are the features a strong answer picks out:
Spend the first few minutes planning, then write.
0 words of 150 minimum
Your answer stays on this page only. Copy it before you leave.
Write your own answer first, then compare: how it answers the exact question, what each paragraph does, and which phrases you could borrow.
The table compares car ownership, commuting time and public transport use in four cities.
Overall, there was a clear contrast between Los Angeles, a city of car owners, and the other three, where public transport was the main way of commuting. Mumbai had the lowest car ownership and the longest journeys.
In Los Angeles, 90% of households owned a car, and only 6% of commuters used public transport. Its average commute was the shortest on the table, at 31 minutes.
Moscow and Tokyo had similar profiles. In Moscow, 48% of households had a car, and 62% of commuters used public transport, the highest figure on the table. Tokyo recorded 45% car ownership and 57% public transport use. Car ownership in the two cities differed by only 3 percentage points. Commutes lasted 43 minutes in Moscow and 40 minutes in Tokyo.
Mumbai had car ownership of only 17%, far below the other cities, and 52% of commuters relied on public transport. Its average commute was the longest, at 47 minutes, which was 16 minutes longer than in Los Angeles.
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| car ownership | having a car |
| commute | journey to work |
| rely on public transport | depend on buses and trains |
| the longest journey | the greatest time |
| the fewest | the lowest number |
| by contrast | in contrast |
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