Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-30

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 New York Population has been change drastically between the 1800 to 2000.The total population of districts Manhattan increased 76% in 1800 , 54% in 1900 and 19% in 2000. In the year of 2000 the Manhattan population decreases. The other districts of the new York like Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, and state island . The populations of these districts increases over these centuries. The increase in population of these districts has been increasing every year. in 1800 the increase rate is 24% and 1900 the increase is 46% and in 2000 the increase in population has been notice like 81%.The increase in the population has been alarming all these years if the situation is like this the human resources has been limited we need to expand the urban areas and production of the things . These percentage are alone the new York populations and think about the whole world all these years .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the broad contrast between Manhattan and the other four districts: Manhattan’s share falls from 76% to 19%, while the others’ combined share rises from 24% to 81%. However, the response only partially summarises the tables. It does not report the city’s overall growth from 79,216 to over 8 million, and it says Manhattan’s population decreases in 2000 without explaining that its absolute population rose sharply by 1900 before falling to 1,538,096. The claim that the other districts’ population increased “every year” is not supported by the three snapshots. The comments about alarming growth, limited resources and expanding urban areas are personal speculation rather than a summary of the data. Focus on the main trends and comparisons shown.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

The response contains some relevant information, and the sequence from Manhattan to the other districts gives it a basic organising idea. However, the ideas are not arranged into clear stages or paragraphs, so the reader has to work to distinguish the data summary from the concluding opinion. Connections such as “The other districts…” and “These percentage…” are unclear, while repeated references to “increase” do not show how the points relate. The final sentences about world population and urban expansion interrupt the progression rather than conclude the table summary. Group the information into an introduction, an overview, and focused comparisons, using clear links such as “By contrast” and “Overall” only where they accurately connect the data.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some task-relevant vocabulary, including “total population,” “districts,” “percentage,” and “increased,” so the main subject is generally recognisable. However, the range is limited and several choices are inaccurate or repetitive: “increase rate” is not the right expression for a population share, and “the increase in population has been notice” does not clearly describe the figures. “State island” also misnames Staten Island. The response relies repeatedly on “increase” and “population,” which makes comparisons less precise. Use terms such as “accounted for,” “share,” “rose,” and “declined” to distinguish population totals from percentages, and check place names and collocations before writing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple statements and longer conditional structures, but control is inconsistent, and errors sometimes make relationships difficult to follow. Examples include “has been change drastically,” “between the 1800 to 2000,” and “the Manhattan population decreases,” where verb forms, tense, or sentence patterns are faulty. Articles and agreement are also problematic in “the new York” and “the human resources has been limited.” Punctuation and capitalisation errors, including missing spaces after full stops and lowercase “in,” further affect readability. Practise accurate past-tense reporting and basic sentence patterns first; then build longer comparisons with a clear subject and verb, for example, “Manhattan’s share fell from 76% to 19%.”

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