Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-16

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The first table below shows changes in the total population of New York City from 1800 to 2000. The second and third tables show changes in the population of the five districts of the city (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Staten Island) over the same period.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The three tables illustrate the total population growth of New York City and the percentage distribution across its five districts from 1800 to 2000. Overall, the projection of three different centuries shows drastic population increases throughout different timeframes across New York City, whereas Manhattan's trend depicts a similar comparison.

For New York City, the population was 79,216 in 1800, which witnessed a dramatic increase of roughly 3,350,000 in 100 years. Subsequently, this trend experienced a very huge, dramatic increase to 8,008,185 in 2000; this particular time period recorded its highest record of population growth.

Regarding the other 5 different districts of the city like Manhattan, it had a rough population of 60,515 in 1800, and for the other 4 districts, this figure was 18,701. After a century, this record significantly accounted for 1,850,093 and 1,587,109, which was merely 54% and 46% of the total population of Manhattan and its surrounding districts, respectively. In 2000, this figure marked up to 19% and 81%, recording 1,538,096 and 6,471,089.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student successfully reports the main features and makes relevant comparisons across the tables provided. Key data points, such as the total population figures in 1800, 1900, and 2000, as well as the percentage breakdown between Manhattan and the other districts, are accurately cited and compared. An overview is provided in the opening paragraph, noting the overall population growth and the trend in Manhattan. However, there is a minor confusion in phrasing in the overview ('the projection of three different centuries shows drastic population increases... whereas Manhattan's trend depicts a similar comparison'), which lacks absolute clarity regarding Manhattan's declining share. Despite this, all parts of the task are adequately addressed with appropriate data selection.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response has a clear overall progression, moving from an introductory overview to the general population data, and finally to the district-level breakdown. Paragraphing is used appropriately to structure the ideas. Cohesive devices are employed to connect concepts, though some referencing is slightly clumsy, such as 'Regarding the other 5 different districts of the city like Manhattan', which groups Manhattan awkwardly with 'other' districts before immediately discussing Manhattan separately. Furthermore, the final sentence uses 'this figure' multiple times to refer to distinct metrics (percentages and population counts), causing minor confusion. Overall, organisation is coherent, but referencing could be managed more precisely.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task, with attempts to incorporate less common items and descriptive phrases such as 'drastic population increases', 'percentage distribution', and 'surrounding districts'. However, there are instances of redundancy, awkward collocation, or imprecise word choices, such as 'the projection of three different centuries', 'very huge, dramatic increase', and 'this figure marked up to 19%'. These minor inaccuracies and slightly repetitive modifiers prevent the lexical score from reaching a higher band. Spelling is accurate throughout.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, utilising relative clauses and introductory prepositional phrases effectively (e.g., 'After a century, this record significantly accounted for...'). There are some grammatical and punctuation errors present, notably wordiness and awkward phrasing such as 'this trend experienced a very huge, dramatic increase to 8,008,185' (which also contains a minor typo compared to the prompt's 8,009,185). While these errors do not impede overall communication, they occur regularly enough to restrict the score to a Band 6.0.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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