Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-11

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 first table illustrates the demographical shift in total population occured in past 3 decade of new york city . on the other hand chart second and third depict the population shift of five distinct dirtricts of the new york .

overall, the first chart speaks about the pouplation change of the city from year 1800 to 2000 .The city has undergone substancial transition in the year 1800 the population of city was recorded the lowest which is 79,216. in contrast, by year 1900 city experiences population growth and reaches by nearly 3,437,202 individuals. In year 2000 the city population skyrocketed to the peak of 8,009,185.

the second table depict the population change in the city manhattan from year 1800 to 2000. if we gaze towards the chart in year 1800 the poulation of the city was 60,515 and it shared roughly 76% of the total population of new york city. secondly , by year 1900 city witnessed boost in population by nearly 1,850,093 citizens but on the onther the percentage of total population got decreased to nearly 54 percent. next decade the district population fell to roughly 1,538,096 . the percentage of total population also felt the decline to nearly 19%

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You report the main rise in New York City’s population, using the correct figures for 1800, 1900 and 2000, and you identify Manhattan’s declining share of the total. However, the response covers only part of the tables: it gives no account of the combined population of the other four districts, whose share rose from 24% to 81%, and the overview does not clearly summarise this major shift. The phrase “next decade” is also inaccurate: the comparison is between 1900 and 2000, a century later. Your description of Manhattan’s population increase and subsequent fall is relevant, but the report needs fuller coverage and a clearer overview of the contrasting district trends.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable sequence: an introduction, an overview, and paragraphs describing the city total and Manhattan. This gives the reader some organisation, and time markers such as “by year 1900” help indicate change. However, progression is weakened by repetitive phrasing and mechanical connectors, including “on the other hand,” “secondly,” and “next.” The final paragraph stops after Manhattan, leaving the other-district data unintegrated and the comparison incomplete. Some references are also unclear, such as “the city” when discussing Manhattan. Grouping the figures into a clear overview followed by a paragraph comparing Manhattan with the other districts would make the information easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You attempt a range of vocabulary relevant to trends, including “population growth,” “transition,” “skyrocketed,” and “decline.” These choices show an effort to avoid repeating basic terms, but several are inaccurate, misspelled, or awkwardly collocated, which limits precision. For example, “demographical shift” and “population shift” are not natural descriptions of the tables, while “the percentage … felt the decline” does not express the trend correctly. Spelling errors such as “pouplation,” “dirtricts,” and “substancial” are noticeable. Aim for accurate, conventional report language—such as “population increased,” “accounted for,” and “the proportion fell”—rather than using ambitious terms that do not fit the context.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You use some longer sentence forms to compare years, but control is inconsistent, and errors often make the wording difficult to process. For example, “the population of city was recorded the lowest which is 79,216” has problems with articles, tense, and sentence construction; “by year 1900 city experiences population growth and reaches by nearly…” is also structurally faulty. Capitalisation and punctuation are frequently missing, including at sentence beginnings and around clauses. There are also errors in tense consistency and agreement. Practise building accurate comparison sentences with a clear subject and verb, for example, “The population rose to 3.4 million in 1900 and reached 8 million by 2000.”

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