Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-20

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 line graph presents the proportion of the citizens of Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia are residing in cities between 1970 and 2020 with a 10 years interval also contains a forcast of 2030 and 2040.

Overall, the percentage of inhabitants living in cities had grew over the time in all countries, and, the preidctions also states an increase in the future. Philippines had the greatest number of resident in cities during the year 1970, followed by Malaysia, Thailand and Indinesia. However, the trend suggests that Malaysia continued lead the statistic from 1990, and will also lead in the future. Thailand had the lowest proportion of individual living in cities from 2000, and the trend will continue.

Focusing on Malaysia, it had 30% resident in cities, with a steady growth, it became just around 45% in 1990, and then a drammatic growth can be observed, a stragaring 75% in 2020. The prediction states that it will be above 80% in 2040. Philippines, on the other hand, despite being the first in 1970 (a little more than 30%), the progress rate was not as high as Malaysia, it peaked at just below 50% in 1990, and then started to fall to approximately 40% in 2010, before growing again to about 45% in 2020. The forecast shows it will continue to proliferate to above 50% in 2040, keeping the third position.

Thailand had just below 20% inhavitants in cities in 1970, and the growth was steady upto 2020 (nearly 30%), with a prdiction of around 45% in 2040. Indonesia, in contrast, had the lowest proportion. It corssed Philippines in 2010, replacing itself to the second position. It then rose considerablly higher than other two countries except Malaysia,, becoming more or less 50% in 2020, and will become just above 60% in 2040.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student successfully addresses all parts of the task by reporting the main features, selecting relevant data points, and making appropriate comparisons across the four countries. An overview is provided, highlighting general upward trends and shifting rankings. However, there are some minor inaccuracies in data interpretation; for instance, the student states that the Philippines had the greatest number of residents in cities in 1970, whereas the graph indicates Malaysia actually started slightly lower (30% vs 32%), though they were very close. Additionally, the statement that Thailand had the lowest proportion from 2000 onwards overlooks Indonesia starting lower in 1970 and 1980, though Indonesia surpassed Thailand later. Despite these minor discrepancies, the overall response effectively covers the scope of the visual data and presents a clear, well-supported overview.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response is logically organised into four paragraphs, following a clear introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs detailing specific country trends. Cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'Focusing on Malaysia', 'on the other hand', and 'in contrast' are used to guide the reader through the data. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different categories of information. However, referencing and cohesive links are occasionally mechanical or slightly awkward, such as 'replacing itself to the second position' and 'except Malaysia,,'. Progression is generally clear throughout, maintaining a logical flow from general trends to specific country analyses.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for an Academic Task 1 response, employing terms such as 'proportion', 'inhabitants', 'proliferate', 'forecast', and 'trend'. There are several attempts to use less common vocabulary, though some word choices and collocations are unnatural or inaccurate, such as 'progress rate' instead of 'rate of urbanisation', 'corssed' (spelling error), and 'drammatic growth'. Minor spelling and morphological errors like 'forcast' and 'preidctions' occur, but they do not impede communication. The lexical range is sufficient to convey the main features of the graph, but frequent minor lexical inaccuracies prevent a higher band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, incorporating relative clauses, participial phrases, and future predictions ('the prediction states that it will be...'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors and punctuation lapses throughout the text. Examples include run-on sentences and comma splices in the introduction ('...are residing in cities between 1970 and 2020 with a 10 years interval also contains a forcast...'), subject-verb agreement issues ('the percentage... had grew'), and awkward prepositional use ('resident in cities' instead of 'residents living in cities'). While complex structures are attempted and meaning is generally clear, the high frequency of grammatical slips keeps the score at this level.

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