Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-21

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 5.0)

The tables provide data on the variations in the total population of new york city from 1800 to 2000, while the other two tables describes changes in population of five different districts of city.

Overall, there was intense increase in population new york by passing years. Also manhattan district solely contributes the highest ratio between these years.

However,newyork population gradually increased from 1900 to 2000, but there is sharp growth after 1800 as their is population of 79,216 in 1800 and then their is sudden increase in 1900 to 3,437,202 over population thats leads to 8,009,185 by the end of 2000.

Meanwhile, manhattan is highly populated in 1900 with population of [redacted phone] which is overall 54%, although other districts contain higest population in the year 2000 which was 81%. Subsequently the lowest population growth was in the year 1800 with 24% of the total population.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the broad rise in New York City’s population and note the shift from Manhattan toward the other districts, which are relevant main features. However, the overview is partly inaccurate: Manhattan did not have the highest share throughout the period; its share fell from 76% in 1800 to 19% in 2000. The response also says the city’s population increased “gradually” from 1900 to 2000, although it more than doubled, and it does not clearly report the other districts’ population figures. The response is 133 words, below the 150-word minimum, so the account is underdeveloped. Add a clearer overview and compare the key figures across all three years.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a basic structure: an introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs describing population changes. Linking expressions such as “Overall,” “However,” and “Meanwhile” show an attempt to guide the reader. Nevertheless, progression is not consistently clear. “However” introduces a point that does not clearly contrast with the overview, and “Subsequently” does not accurately signal a later event because the 1800 figure is being revisited. Several ideas are crowded into long sentences, especially the sentence tracing the city’s population across all three dates. Use one paragraph for the overall trends and another for the district comparison, and connect each figure explicitly to its year and comparison.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some task-relevant vocabulary, including “population,” “districts,” “ratio,” and “sharp growth,” and the reader can generally understand the subject. However, the range is limited and several choices or combinations are unnatural, such as “intense increase,” “contributes the highest ratio,” and “over population.” “Population growth” is also used where you mean population share, which makes the final comparison less precise. There are noticeable spelling and capitalization problems in “new york,” “newyork,” and “higest.” Aim for accurate, conventional language for describing tables: use terms such as “rose,” “accounted for,” “proportion,” and “population share,” and check spelling and proper nouns.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple and more complex sentences, including a clause beginning “although” and a sentence linking figures with “as.” However, complex structures are often faulty, and frequent errors affect clarity. For example, “the other two tables describes” has subject–verb disagreement, while “there is population” and “their is sudden increase” use incorrect forms. Articles and sentence boundaries are also problematic, as in “of city” and “However,newyork.” The final sentence’s relationship between the 1800 figure and the other districts is difficult to follow. Practise accurate past-tense reporting and agreement, and build shorter sentences around one comparison at a time before combining ideas.

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

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