Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-18
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 5.5)
The graph illustrates the proportion of urban population in four countries. The Philippines ,Malaysia ,Thailand and Indonesia a the period from 1970 to 2020 along the projection for 2030 to 2040. This report shows the main features.
Overall, the four nations experienced a continuous increase in urbanization over the period. Malaysia had a significant increase in population and Thailand had a significantly lower population than others.
In 1970 , Malaysia started with 30 percent of its populace in urban areas and continued its gains reaching 90 percent at the end of the period. If we look at Thailand it had 20 percent at the beginning and surged to 50 percent of urban population in 2040.
Indonesia , starting roughly about 13 percent in 1970 has undergone a remarkable surge. It is projected to gain 60 % in the future.
The Philippines, commencing at a comparable level to Malaysia in 1970. It is forecast to attain around 55% urban population by 2040.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The student covers all parts of the task by reporting data from four countries across the given time frame. An overview is attempted, stating that all nations experienced an increase in urbanization. However, the data selection contains inaccuracies and misinterpretations. For instance, the writer claims Malaysia reached '90 percent at the end of the period,' whereas the graph shows it reaching approximately 83.5 percent in 2040. Similarly, Thailand's starting point is misquoted as '20 percent' (actual is 18%), and Indonesia's start is stated as 'roughly about 13 percent' (actual is 14%). Furthermore, Malaysia's rise is described as a 'significant increase in population' rather than urban proportion, conflating total population with urbanization rate. These inaccuracies prevent the response from achieving a higher band score.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The response is organized into four paragraphs, including a brief introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs dedicated to individual countries. However, the logical progression is hindered by poor referencing and mechanical transitions, such as 'If we look at Thailand it had...'. Furthermore, the introduction suffers from severe punctuation and segmentation errors ('The Philippines ,Malaysia ,Thailand and Indonesia a the period...'), which disrupt the flow from the very beginning. Paragraphing is present, but internal cohesion within paragraphs often feels disjointed rather than naturally unified.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student attempts a range of vocabulary suitable for a task of this type, using terms such as 'proportion', 'urbanization', 'projected', and 'surge'. However, there are noticeable lexical inaccuracies and awkward collocations. For example, the writer uses 'population' instead of 'proportion of the population' in sentences like 'Malaysia had a significant increase in population'. There are also basic word form and preposition errors, such as 'along the projection for 2030 to 2040' instead of 'along with projections'. While the vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey the general topic, these errors restrict the lexical score.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but grammatical accuracy is low. There are significant punctuation and sentence-boundary errors, particularly in the introduction where the sentence is incomplete and fragmented: 'The Philippines ,Malaysia ,Thailand and Indonesia a the period from 1970 to 2020 along the projection for 2030 to 2040.' Another fragment occurs in the final paragraph: 'The Philippines, commencing at a comparable level to Malaysia in 1970. It is forecast to attain...' Frequent punctuation errors, missing verbs, and clumsy phrasing cause difficulty for the reader and prevent the response from reaching Band 6.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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