Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-03

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 Represent the insight about the percentage of population in several small asian countries ( Malaysia, Philippins, Thailand, Indonesia ). living in the cities from 1970 to 2020, along with a prediction of future till 2040.

Overall, it is crearly visible that the people living in the cities in Malaysia is the highest, And people living in cities in indonesia was lowest in starting but at present thailand is at Lowest.

Initially, the number of people living in the cities in philippins was the highest, in the year 1970 at 31% of the total population. which later fluctuated and increased to 40% in 2020 and later in future it is expected to reach 55% by the year 2040. morover, the second highest percentage of people living in the city was 30% in 1970 it increased steadily crossing every other country's population and reached 75% by 2020 and is expected to reach 85% by 2040.

Furthermore, the percentage of population living in cities in Indoesia was at lowest being 13% of total population which increased gradually taking over that those of Thailand and Philippines and is expected to become the second highest. Similarly the stats in thailand were at 18% in 1970 which increased to 30% till 2020 and will reach in future to 45%, but still it remain lowest in the future.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by reporting on the percentage of the population living in cities across the four countries, and it attempts an overall overview. Key features such as Malaysia's significant upward trend and Indonesia's growth are mentioned. However, some parts of the task are developed less fully than others, and certain reported figures contain inaccuracies when compared to the visual data. For instance, the student states that the Philippines started at 31% in 1970 and reached 40% in 2020, whereas the graph shows 32% rising to 45.5%. Additionally, Malaysia's starting point and final projections contain minor misreadings. To reach a higher level, the response would need to accurately extract and report data points without significant discrepancies while providing a more balanced development of all four countries.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The report demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt to structure the response into an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs detailing individual country trends. Logical connectors and transitional phrases such as "Overall", "Initially", and "Furthermore" are employed to sequence information. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty, and referencing is not always clear, particularly in sentences like "the second highest percentage of people living in the city was 30% in 1970 it increased steadily crossing every other country's population", where it is ambiguous which country is being referred to. Paragraphing is present, but the internal flow of sentences within paragraphs could be smoother to achieve a clearer progression throughout.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common lexical items related to trends, such as "fluctuated", "increased steadily", and "gradually". However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors that detract from precision, including "Represent" instead of represents, "crearly" instead of clearly, "Philippins" and "Indoesia" instead of the correct country names, and lowercase capitalization on proper nouns. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they reflect limitations in control over less common vocabulary and spelling accuracy. To improve, the student needs to ensure correct word forms, appropriate spellings, and precise reporting verbs.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writing exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting relative clauses and future predictions using modal structures like "is expected to reach". However, there are frequent errors in grammar, punctuation, and article usage. Examples include missing capital letters at the beginning of sentences, incorrect verb forms ("The line graph Represent"), run-on sentences lacking appropriate punctuation or conjunctions (such as joining independent clauses with commas), and prepositional errors like "living in the cities in indonesia was lowest in starting". These errors require some effort to decode but rarely impede overall communication entirely. To progress, the student should focus on sentence boundaries, subject-verb agreement, and consistent tense management.

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