Illustrative Band 7
Well-selected overview and logical grouping
The table illustrates how the proportions of city commuters travelling by bus, car and bicycle changed in 2015, 2020 and 2025.
Overall, buses remained the dominant form of transport throughout the period, but their lead narrowed substantially as their share fell and car use rose. Cycling was consistently the least common choice, despite modest growth.
At the beginning of the period, 62% of workers commuted by bus, more than double the 28% who drove. Bus use subsequently decreased to 54% in 2020 and then to 47% in 2025, representing an overall decline of 15 percentage points.
The opposite pattern can be seen for the other two modes. The proportion travelling by car climbed by seven points to 35% in 2020 and reached 39% five years later. Although bicycle use also increased, the change was smaller: it edged up from 10% to 11% before finishing at 14%. Consequently, the gap between bus and car use contracted from 34 to just eight percentage points.
What is working
- Selects the dominant and contrasting trends
- Uses figures to support comparisons rather than list them
What improves the next band
- Vary reference language without sacrificing precision
- Keep checking that each sentence adds a distinct comparison