Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-04

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 6.0)

The first data table shows the increment in the total population New York city between 1800 and 2000, whereas the second table shows the changes in the population of five districts of the city, namely Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten Island over the same timeframe.

Overall, the city of New York experienced the highest growth in population over the two centuries.

In the year 1800, the population of New York was roughly 80,000, which rose more than hundred times and hit a statistic of 8 million. While the combined population of other five districts are equal to that of New York in the year 1800.

On the other hand, Manhattan accounted for slightly more than three-fourth population in the 1800s, when compared with the five districts. The cities, Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten Island experienced a steady growth of population over a century and recorded a 46 percent share of total population. Finally, in the 2000s, Manhattan had a population of 1.5 million, while the other four cities combined have a population of marginally less than 6.5 million accounting for a massive eighty-one percent of citizens.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your response addresses all parts of the task by reporting the main features of the population growth in New York City and its districts from 1800 to 2000. You successfully highlight key data points, such as the overall rise in population from roughly 80,000 to 8 million, and compare Manhattan with the other districts across the timeline. However, some ideas are under-developed or slightly unclear, such as the sentence stating that the combined population of other districts equaled New York in 1800, which is mathematically confusing since Manhattan was part of that total. To reach a higher band, you should ensure all comparisons are completely clear, logically sound, and fully supported by precise details from the visual data without any ambiguity.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

Your essay has a coherent overall arrangement and follows a logical structure, beginning with a clear introduction that paraphrases the prompt, followed by an overall summary and body paragraphs dealing with the specific data. You make use of cohesive devices to guide the reader, such as 'Overall', 'In the year 1800', and 'On the other hand'. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or slightly faulty, particularly with transitional phrases and referencing—for instance, writing 'While the combined population of other five districts are equal to that of New York' creates a disjointed relationship between clauses. To improve, work on smoother transitions between sentences and ensure that your referencing clearly links related ideas together throughout the text.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items and descriptive phrases such as 'increment', 'steady growth of population', and 'accounting for a massive eighty-one percent'. However, there are some word-choice and collocation inaccuracies that prevent a higher score, such as using 'increment' instead of 'increase' or 'growth', and referring to districts as 'The cities, Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten Island'. Spelling is generally accurate, and your lexical errors do not impede communication, but to achieve a higher band, you need to use less common vocabulary with greater precision and stylistic naturalness.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

Your writing displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating your ability to handle compound structures and subordinate clauses. There are, however, some noticeable errors in grammar and punctuation. For example, there is a subject-verb agreement error with 'the combined population of other five districts are equal', and an article omission in 'total population New York city'. Additionally, the fragment 'While the combined population of other five districts are equal to that of New York in the year 1800' leaves a dependent clause dangling without a main clause. While these errors rarely impede communication, reducing their frequency and increasing your control over complex sentence patterns will help elevate your grammar score.

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

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