Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-07-30

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The graph below gives information about the percentage of the population in four Asian countries living in cities from 1970 to 2020, with predictions for 2030 and 2040. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.

 

Student answer (Band 6.5)

The line graph demonstrates the percentage of residents living in urban areas across four countries in Asia in the period from 1970 to 2020, with future expectations until 2040.

Overall, all countries all increased with malaysia being the most significant as always the first over the whole period. Indonesia experienced the best growth although starts of at the bottom, it surpassed Thailan and Phillippines very quickly.

Conceering Malaysia and Philippines all began at 30%, with Philippines slightly higher. Only after a few decades, from 1990 to 2010, Philippines recorded the only decrease, from 50% to around 40% while Malaysia kept going. As a result, Malaysia might reach its peak at 80% while Philippines could possibly be at 55%.

Regarding Thailand and Indonesia, both only started at only below 20%. Both figures increased to appoximately 29% in 2000, but Indonesia fluctuated, overtaking Thailand just after a decade while Thailand stayed stable until 2020. Finally, Indonesia could end at 60% while Thailand is believed to get to 50% in 2040.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

You have successfully identified the main trends and provided a clear overview of the data. You covered all four countries and included the future projections as required. However, there are some inaccuracies in your data reporting. For instance, you stated that Malaysia and the Philippines both began at 30% in 1970, but the graph shows Malaysia starting lower than the Philippines. Additionally, your description of the Philippines experiencing a decrease between 1990 and 2010 is not supported by the provided graph, which shows a steady upward trend. To improve, ensure you carefully verify the data points against the visual information to avoid misinterpretation.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, with an introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs focusing on specific country groupings. This structure helps the reader follow your analysis. You use some cohesive devices, such as 'Overall', 'Regarding', and 'Finally', to transition between ideas. However, some connections are slightly mechanical or imprecise, such as 'Only after a few decades' or 'as always the first'. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring that pronouns clearly refer back to their antecedents would enhance the flow and logical progression of your response.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'urban areas', 'fluctuated', and 'projections'. However, there are several instances of awkward phrasing and word choice errors, such as 'best growth' (which is imprecise in this context) and 'starts of at the bottom'. There are also some spelling errors, such as 'Conceering' instead of 'Concerning', 'Thailan' instead of 'Thailand', and 'Phillippines'. To reach a higher band, focus on using more precise academic vocabulary and ensure careful proofreading to eliminate minor spelling and collocation errors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, which is appropriate for this task. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'all countries all increased' (redundant) and 'both only started at only below 20%' (repetitive). You also have issues with subject-verb agreement and tense consistency, such as 'starts of at the bottom' instead of 'started at the bottom'. While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding your main points, they occur frequently enough to impact the overall fluency of the writing. Focusing on sentence construction and proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy will help improve your score.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.