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 provided tables describe the change in the population of New York City and across its five districts from 1800 to 2000.
Overall, the population of city was gradually increased in 18th, 19th and 20th century. District wise, manhattan experienced a steady decrease proportionaly, eventhough population seemed to increase by mean of numbers. In contrast, other district continously becoming home of most peoples in each century.
In 1800, the whole population of New York City was 79,216 and at that time period manhattan was most populated area with an approximation of 76% and 60,515 peoples, while other districts were hold the rest 24%. By 1900, there was a notable rise of 3,437,202 in city population. Eventhough, in manhattan total number civilans rose up to 1,850,093, precentage showed reduction of 26%. A reverse pattern was analyzed in other district with the same proportion of 26% increase and 46% of community lived there. As usuall, in 2000, New York City population rose upto 8,009,185 and the same down trend experienced by manhattan leads to overall proportion of 19%. Other districts had gain the attraction of public resulted in 81% of city popluation in 2000.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 6.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5
The response successfully addresses all parts of the task by reporting on the overall population changes of New York City and comparing Manhattan with the other districts across the specified years. An appropriate overview is provided in the second paragraph, capturing the general upward trend of the city and the shifting proportions of the districts. However, some parts of the data discussion are slightly underdeveloped or imprecise, such as describing the percentage reduction in Manhattan as 26% when the data shows a different trajectory relative to the totals, though the broad comparisons remain relevant. To reach a higher band, the reporting of figures would need greater accuracy and more fully extended analysis.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5
The response has a clear overall arrangement and logically progresses from an introduction to an overview, followed by detailed body data broken down by year. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction, overview, and body details. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty, with awkward transitions and referencing that occasionally makes the logical flow less smooth, such as the sudden shift into specific figures without seamless connectors. To achieve a higher level, cohesive devices should be used more flexibly and paragraph transitions made more natural.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items and descriptive terms like "proportionaly", "steady decrease", and "reverse pattern". However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors that detract from precision, such as "proportionaly", "eventhough", "civilans", "precentage", "As usuall", and "popluation". Furthermore, expressions like "other districts had gain the attraction of public" show unnatural collocation. These lexical inaccuracies do not completely impede communication, but they keep the score at the present level.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms to describe the trends over time. There are several control issues with grammar and punctuation, including missing articles ("population of city", "in other district"), subject-verb agreement errors ("other districts were hold"), and incorrect prepositional or verbal patterns ("population of city was gradually increased", "continously becoming home of most peoples"). Punctuation and capitalization errors also occur, such as lowercase district names like "manhattan". While these errors rarely impede overall communication, their frequency across complex structures prevents the writing from attaining a higher grammar band.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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