IELTS Writing Task 1 question with Sample Answer 31

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The table below gives information about rail transport in four countries in 2007.

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

Write at least 150 words.

CountryNumber of People using rail transport (not including metro)Passengerkilometres per head of populationCargocarried (billions of tons)
Malaysia5.977022.2
Canada0.3802820
China27198023.01
UAE5.578021.9

model answer:

The table shows details for four countries concerning the percentage of the population who use the railways, how many kilometres each person travels on average, and the number of tons of cargo the railways carry.

What is surprising is that very few Americans use rail- less than half of one per cent- and they do not travel far (just 80 kilometres). However, the Canada carries by far the most cargo, nearly 3 thousand billion tons. This contrasts greatly with China, where 27% of the population use rail, and they each travel further (1980 kilometres) than any of the other countries. On the other hand, less than 25 billion tons of freight is carried.

The two countries which are most similar are the Malaysia and UAE. Both have between 5 and 6% of people who use trains, they travel between 770 and 780 kilometres and the amount of freight is approximately the same (22.2 and 21.9 billion tons respectively).

In general it can be seen that while citizens of the Canada use rail transport the least, they transport the most amount of cargo by rail.