Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-07-27

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The graph below shows the number of shops that closed and the number of new shops that opened in one country between 2011 and 2018.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Number of shop closures and openings 2011– 2018

Student answer (Band 6.5)

The supplied illustration illustrates a comparison of the percentage of the population aged 65 and over in the USA, Sweden, and Japan from 1940 to 2011. At first glance, in 1940, only 5% and 7% of the population in Japan and Sweden, while the majority was 9% in the USA.

It is crystal clear that this trend gradually changed over the years, with the percentage of the population aged 65 and over surpassing those in Japan by 2040. By 2000, the USA and Sweden had a proportion of the population identical at 15%. The most substantial increase in Japan's population aged 65 and over occurred between 2030 and 2040, where the Japanese jumped from 10% to 27%.

Conversely, the percentage of the population in Sweden exhibited a consistent upward trend from 1940 to 2040. The highest proportion of the population in the USA was in 1940 at 9%, which steadily rose to 15% from 1980 to 2019, with a 2% decrease in the USA population.

All in all, the data reveals a significant shift over time with an increasing trend in the proportion of the population aged 65 and over in the three different countries over the observed period from 1940 to 2040.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response is completely off-topic. The prompt asks for a summary of a graph regarding shop closures and openings between 2011 and 2018. However, the student has written about the percentage of the population aged 65 and over in the USA, Sweden, and Japan from 1940 to 2011. Because the student has failed to address the actual task instructions and the data provided, the response cannot be assessed as a successful completion of the task. It does not report the main features of the correct graph, nor does it make relevant comparisons based on the provided image.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

Despite the content being entirely irrelevant to the prompt, the essay itself is structured with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. There is some use of cohesive devices such as 'At first glance', 'It is crystal clear', 'Conversely', and 'All in all'. The paragraphing is logical in terms of the text's own internal flow, even though the information presented is incorrect for the task. The progression of ideas is clear, but the lack of connection to the actual task makes the coherence irrelevant to the assessment of the prompt.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The vocabulary used is generally appropriate for an academic report, including terms like 'percentage', 'proportion', 'substantial increase', and 'exhibited a consistent upward trend'. While the content is wrong, the range of vocabulary is sufficient to convey the ideas the student intended to write. There are no significant spelling errors, and the word choice is generally precise for the context of describing trends, even though those trends do not exist in the provided graph.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are some grammatical inaccuracies, such as 'only 5% and 7% of the population in Japan and Sweden, while the majority was 9% in the USA' (missing a verb) and 'surpassing those in Japan by 2040' (referring to a population percentage as 'those'). However, these errors do not significantly impede communication. The control of grammar is generally adequate for a Band 6 level, showing a reasonable attempt at complex sentence construction.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.