Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

The line graph presents the percentage of four asian population living in cities over the period of 1970 to 2020, also shows the prediction for 2030 and 2040.

Overall, all asian countries have shown steady increase in percentage. Malaysia and Indonesia have shown significant increase in population who tends to live in cities. Whereas, Thailand and Philippines slowed gradual increase till 2020 but it predicits to have a rise till 2040.

Initially, Malaysia and Indonesia had less percentage of poplation living in cities but it shows steady increase in population till 2020 with approximately 70% and 50% respectively. This trends predicits that population will keep rising above 80% and 60% respectively by the end of 2040.

Moverover, Thailand shows upward trend till 1990 and pleatued on approximately 27% in 2020, the prediction shows a rise in percentage above 40% by 2040. However, Philippines population remained same in early years but it rises above 45% in1990, but declined to approimately 40% in 2020 which tends to rise up till 2040.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response successfully addresses all parts of the task by presenting an overview of the main trends and making relevant comparisons across the four countries. Key features are selected and reported, such as the prominent upward trajectory of Malaysia and Indonesia and the more gradual changes in Thailand and the Philippines. However, some ideas and details are slightly under-developed or contain minor inaccuracies in data interpretation—for instance, stating that Thailand plateaued around 27 percent when the gridline shows it hovering around 32.5 percent in 2010. The overview is clear and sets out the main trends effectively, meeting the lower requirements fully while showing elements of more extended reporting required for higher bands.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The report displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear division into logical paragraphs, separating the introduction, overview, and specific country details. Information and ideas are generally sequenced logically, and cohesive devices are employed, such as 'Overall', 'Whereas', 'Initially', and 'However'. However, some of the referencing and cohesion can feel slightly mechanical or repetitive, and transitional phrases between sentences are sometimes formulaic. Paragraphing is used appropriately to group related information, but the internal progression within the body paragraphs could be smoother to achieve a fully seamless flow of ideas.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common and topic-specific items such as 'percentage of population living in cities', 'steady increase', 'significant increase', and 'upward trend'. However, there are noticeable word choice, spelling, and word form errors throughout the text, such as 'asian' instead of 'Asian', 'poplation' instead of 'population', 'predicits' instead of 'predicts', 'pleatued' instead of 'plateaued', and 'Moverover' instead of 'Moreover'. These lexical errors and awkward collocations like 'population who tends to live' occasionally reveal limitations in precision, though they do not seriously impede overall communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at relative clauses and time-frame references. However, there is a frequent presence of grammatical errors and inaccuracies, particularly with articles, subject-verb agreement, and prepositional patterns. Examples include 'percentage of four asian population' missing pluralisation and articles, 'Thailand and Philippines slowed gradual increase' lacking necessary prepositions or modifiers, and 'Philippines population remained same' missing the article 'the'. Punctuation and verb tense shifts in predictions also show instability. These errors mean that while communication is maintained, the control over complex structures remains limited and requires more consistency.

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