Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-09

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 4.5)

the first table show the changes in total papoulation of New York city from 1800 to 2000. papoulation of five ditricts manthan,Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens , States Islands over the same period.

Overall the total papoulation of the new york is significantly increased during two centuries.Most of the papoultion happend between 1800 and 1900.After the papulation is relatively stable .Although in the five districts Manthatten and Brooklyen have more papulation as compared to the other districts

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response4.0
Coherence and Cohesion4.0
Lexical Resource4.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy4.5
Overall4.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

You identify the broad subject and give a general overview that the city’s population increased, which is relevant to the task. However, the response is only 67 words, well below the required 150, and it reports very little of the table data. The claim that growth was concentrated between 1800 and 1900 is not supported: the population rose from 3.4 million in 1900 to 8.0 million in 2000. The statement that it was “relatively stable” after 1900 is therefore inaccurate. The district comparison is also unclear and misleading: Manhattan’s share fell to 19% by 2000, while the other four districts together accounted for 81%. Include accurate figures and key comparisons to address the task more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

There is a basic attempt to organise the response into an introduction and an overview, and “Overall” signals that the second paragraph is intended to summarise the main picture. However, the ideas are not developed or arranged into a clear account of the tables. The first paragraph largely repeats the task, while the second moves from total population growth to an unsupported claim about stability and then to a district comparison without explaining the relationships. The phrase “Although in the five districts” also leaves the comparison incomplete. Use separate paragraphs for the overall trend and the district figures, and connect each point with clear references to the years and populations.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

The response uses a small set of relevant terms, including “total population,” “districts,” and “increased,” so the general topic can be recognised. However, vocabulary is basic and repetitive, and several spelling errors make the writing less clear: “papoulation” appears repeatedly, while “ditricts,” “manthan,” and “Manthatten” are also misspelled. Some word combinations are imprecise, such as “Most of the population happened,” which does not naturally describe a change in population. Choose accurate data-reporting language such as “the population rose” or “accounted for,” and check spelling carefully. More precise terms for proportions and comparisons would help communicate the table’s main features.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

You attempt both a simple overview and a longer sentence beginning with “Although,” but the range of sentence structures is very limited and errors frequently affect clarity. The opening sentence is a fragment rather than a complete sentence, and “the first table show” has incorrect subject–verb agreement. In “After the papulation is relatively stable,” the time relationship and sentence structure are faulty; the intended meaning is also unclear. The final sentence beginning “Although” is incomplete because it does not provide a main clause. Practise writing complete sentences with a clear subject and verb, use past-tense forms consistently for the historical data, and punctuate each sentence so that comparisons are easy to follow.

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