Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-25

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 5.0)

The graph illustrates, the number of shops that closed while compare to that new shops that opened in same nation during given years.

Overall, In starting years opens shopes accounted maximum. Whereas, closed was minimum, while at some point both are meet and make average of both open and close shopes.

In 2011, closed shopes were lie on 6500. Which is less to open amount of shopes in that year. Both are crossed at some point in 2012. Which was 6100. Afterthat, it had fluctuated in several years. In 2014, closed rate was hier compare to open ratio. which was around 6600. Meanwhile, open shopes significantly dwell and reached to 4000 in 2012. Afterthat, it had rose and reached to 6100. It had meet again in 2016. Afterthat, closed shopes ratio significantly dropped and reached at 500 in 2015 which was minimum in whole graph. But the end of years mainly closed shopes are maximum. While open shopes had decline.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the two measures and give some relevant figures, including closures at about 6,500 in 2011 and the sharp fall in 2015. However, the summary only partially captures the graph, and several key comparisons are inaccurate or unclear. Openings were highest in 2011, but closures were not at a minimum then; they reached their lowest point in 2015. The claim that the lines crossed in 2012 at 6,100 is incorrect: closures were about 5,900 and openings about 3,900. The statement that they met again in 2016 is also unsupported. Your overview mentions general fluctuation but does not clearly summarise the main pattern, such as openings declining overall and closures ending above openings. Select fewer details and report them accurately.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

There is an attempt to organise the response with an opening, an overview and a sequence of yearly details, so the reader can recognise the intended comparison. However, progression is difficult to follow because events are not consistently presented in chronological order: the account moves from 2014 back to 2012, then to 2016 and back to 2015. Linking words such as “Afterthat” are repeated, while “Whereas” and “Meanwhile” do not always make the relationship between ideas clear. Several sentence fragments, including “Which was 6100,” interrupt the flow. Group the figures into a clear overview and a chronological comparison, and use references such as “the former” and “the latter” consistently.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some task-related vocabulary, including “fluctuated,” “significantly dropped,” and “reached,” which helps communicate changes in the graph. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations make the meaning unclear, such as “closed rate,” “open ratio,” and “dwell” for a figure that fell or remained stable. “Shopes” is repeatedly misspelled, and “hier” and “Afterthat” also reduce accuracy. Use precise nouns such as “number of closures” and “number of openings,” and choose verbs that match the trend, for example “fell,” “rose,” or “remained stable.” More accurate vocabulary would make the comparisons easier to understand.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple and more complex sentences, including contrasts introduced by “while” and “whereas.” However, many sentences contain errors in sentence structure, verb forms, articles, or punctuation, and these sometimes make the intended meaning difficult to follow. For example, “the number of shops that closed while compare to that new shops” is not a complete, well-formed comparison, and “closed shopes were lie on 6500” has an incorrect verb construction. Capitalisation after full stops is also inconsistent, as in “which was around 6600.” Practise complete subject–verb sentences and accurate past-tense reporting, such as “Closures stood at about 6,500, compared with 8,500 openings.”

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

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