Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-19

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 given tables give us an overview about the variations occuring in the population of the New York City in between 1800 to 2000 in the districts Manhattan,Brooklyn,Bronx,Queens and Staten Island and the second table has two further seperated tables that tells us about the percentage of the total population taking change between Manhattan and rest of the four districts!

Overall we can see that the popluation in all five districts have grown by far more than 10 folds the population it was in the year 1800 .By the 1800's the population was 79,216 which grew upto 5 times in 1900's collectively making the population 3,437,202 which later grew approximately 2.2 times becoming 8,009,185 in the year 2000 .

In the second table we can see that the total population in the Manhattan district has grown more in between 1800's and 1900's than rest of the four districts ranging 76% in 1800's for Manhattan versus 24% in rest of the four districts where as the population of Manhattan declined in 1900's to 54% but was still greater than all the other districts together in 1900's which had a collective population of 46%.And in 200's the total percentage of people in Manhattan declined to 19% becoming less than other districts which had a total population of 81%.

In conclusion the overall population in New York City has massively increased in between 1800's and 2000's but the most share in it was by the Manhattan district and at last by all other four districts

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the main overall rise in New York City’s population and the changing balance between Manhattan and the other districts. The figures for the city total and the percentages in 1800, 1900 and 2000 are broadly reported accurately. However, the account is only partly complete: it says Manhattan’s population grew more than the other districts between 1800 and 1900, but the tables show the other districts’ combined population rose from 18,701 to 1,587,109, a much larger increase. It also overlooks that Manhattan’s actual population fell from 1,850,093 in 1900 to 1,538,096 in 2000, while the other districts expanded substantially. Clarify the distinction between population numbers and percentage shares, and make the key comparisons more precise.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, a paragraph about the district shares, and a concluding sentence. This gives the reader a basic route through the information. However, progression within the paragraphs is sometimes difficult to follow because several comparisons are packed into long sentences, especially the paragraph beginning “In the second table”. Connectors such as “where as” and repeated references to “in 1800’s” and “in 1900’s” do not always make the relationships clear, and the conclusion repeats the general rise without adding a precise summary. Organise the details into clearer comparisons—first the citywide growth, then Manhattan versus the combined other districts—and use concise linking phrases to show changes over time.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant vocabulary for describing data, including “declined”, “collective population”, “percentage” and “massively increased”. This shows an attempt to vary your wording, but control is uneven and some expressions are imprecise or unnatural, such as “variations occuring in the population”, “taking change” and “the most share”. Spelling errors, including “popluation”, “seperated” and “occurring”, also reduce accuracy. In addition, “grown by far more than 10 folds” is an awkward way to describe the overall increase. Aim for standard data-reporting collocations such as “population changes”, “accounted for” and “increased more than tenfold”, and check spelling and word forms carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt longer sentences and use some subordinate clauses, but complex structures are often faulty, and errors sometimes make comparisons harder to interpret. For example, “the population in all five districts have grown” has a subject–verb agreement problem, while “the population of Manhattan declined in 1900’s to 54%” confuses the population itself with its share and has an unclear time construction. The opening sentence also contains several clauses joined without clear punctuation, and the final sentence lacks a clear grammatical structure (“the most share in it was by…”). Use shorter, controlled sentences, check singular/plural agreement, and distinguish a district’s population from its percentage of the city total. More accurate sentence boundaries would make your comparisons easier to understand.

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