Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-08-05

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The graph below shows the average monthly change in the prices of three metals during 2014.

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

Average monthly change in prices of copper, nickel and zinc (2014)

Student answer (Band 4.0)

The line graph depicts the proportion of people in four Asian nations who were living in cities from 1970 to 2020, along with projections for 2030 and 2040.

Overall, it is clear that by 2040 the most urbanized country will be Malaysia, while Thailand will be the least preferred nation. Meanwhile, Indonesia overtook the Philippines and Thailand and became the second most populated country.

Malaysia and the Philippines both had around 30% of their population living in cities in 1970, whereas Indonesia stood at around 12%. From 1980 to 1990, the Philippines showed a rapid growth by approximately 15%. By 2010, it moved downward and reached under 45%. Thailand and Indonesia increased significantly and reached nearly 28% and 40% respectively. In 2020, Thailand increased rapidly and reached around 30% of population.

By 2040, Malaysia’s city population will increase rapidly and become the most populated nation among all (around 80%). Approximately 60% of people who will like to live in Indonesia. The Philippines will likely go up and will reach above 50%. All four nations showed gradual upward trend.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 1.0

The response is completely off-topic. The prompt asks for a summary of a graph showing the monthly price changes of three metals (copper, nickel, and zinc) in 2014. However, the student has written a report about urban population percentages in four Asian countries from 1970 to 2040. Because the student has failed to address the task requirements entirely, the response cannot be assessed for task achievement regarding the provided data. This is a critical failure in following the instructions of the writing task.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

Despite being off-topic, the essay is structured with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. There is a logical flow between the paragraphs, and the student uses some cohesive devices such as 'Meanwhile', 'whereas', and 'By 2040'. However, the referencing is sometimes confusing, and the progression of ideas is based on data that does not exist in the provided prompt. The paragraphing is appropriate for an IELTS Task 1 response, but the lack of relevance to the source material limits the coherence score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'urbanized', 'projections', 'significantly', and 'gradual upward trend'. There are some minor inaccuracies in word choice, such as 'most populated country' when referring to urbanization rates, and 'people who will like to live', which is slightly unnatural. However, the vocabulary is generally adequate to convey the intended meaning, even though that meaning is irrelevant to the actual graph provided in the prompt.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'the Philippines showed a rapid growth by approximately 15%' (should be 'of'), and 'reached under 45%' (should be 'reached just under'). Additionally, there are issues with tense consistency when discussing projections, such as 'people who will like to live in Indonesia'. While these errors do not always impede communication, they are frequent enough to suggest a lack of control over more complex grammatical structures.

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

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