Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-15
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 5.0)
The line graph ilustrates the perecentage of people living in cities in four Asian countries namely Philippines,Malaysia,Thailand,Indonesia between 1970 to 2020 with peojection of 2030 to 2040.Overall,urban population increased over the period.But, Malaysia reached highest throughout the timeline and expected to remain most urbanised country by 2040. In contrast,Thailand had the lowest percentage over a period of time.
In 1970, population growth was on 30 percent in Philippines and Malaysia respectively.in contrast,in Thailand and indonesia population percentage was almost below than 20 percent. 3 of countries except Philippines had shown a small growth in the popilation of urbanaised cities.Malaysia shown some fluctuation most of the timeline and expected a slight increase of 10 percent by 2040 samelike other two countries Thailand and indonesia is expected to increase almost 20 and 40 percent by 2040.Meanwhile there was a rapid growth shown in philippines cities urbanizat
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response makes a clear attempt to summarize the main trends in the graph, noting overall growth and identifying Malaysia and Thailand as the highest and lowest countries respectively. However, the response suffers from two major issues: first, it is under-length, falling short of the 150-word minimum at 144 words; second, the final sentence trails off unfinished ("urbanizat"), and some data interpretations are confused or mathematically inaccurate, such as stating that population growth was 30 percent in both Philippines and Malaysia in 1970 (they were 32% and 30%, but the text states population growth rather than urban population percentage). Due to these omissions, inaccuracies, and the word count penalty, this task is rated at a band 5.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response attempts to use a standard structure, with an introductory overview and a body paragraph. However, logical organization is hindered by abrupt transitions and disjointed sentences, such as starting paragraphs with "Overall, urban population increased over the period. But, Malaysia reached highest..." Furthermore, paragraphing is underdeveloped, and the sudden truncation at the end of the text severely disrupts overall progression and coherence. Cohesive devices are either missing or misused, leading to a mechanical and broken flow.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for discussing data, utilizing terms like "percentage", "urban population", "urbanised", and "fluctuation". However, there are numerous spelling and word-choice errors, such as "ilustrates", "perecentage", "peojection", and "urbanaised". Collocations and word forms are occasionally awkward or misused (e.g., "population growth was on 30 percent"). These errors demonstrate a limited control over lexical items, capping the score at band 5.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including comparative structures and projections (e.g., "expected to remain most urbanised country by 2040"). However, grammar and punctuation control is weak, with missing articles (e.g., "in Philippines and Malaysia"), incorrect prepositions, run-on structures, and missing punctuation marks. The response also contains major structural errors and an incomplete final sentence. Frequent errors cause noticeable strain and difficulty for the reader.
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