The line graph shows the projected population growth of China and India.
Sample Response
The line graph showsdepicts the projected population growth of China and India. The X-axis depicts the year and Y-axis depicts the population in billions. The dotted line represents Chinadotted line depicts the trend for China whereas the solid line depicts the population for India. In the initial phase of 1990, there was a clearhuge difference in the population of India and China. In the subsequent years both countriesboth the countries saw a steady increase in the population. Though India had a maximum of a population of 1.6 billion1.6 billion populations compared with China’s 1.45 billioncompared to 1.45 billion of China. There was also an interesting trend in the increase of China's population. It is projected that it will start declining after 2030 after a steady increase until that yeartill the same year.
The two lines depicting the population of both the countries intersectintersect each other in 2030 which implies that the population remained the sameremained same during this year. The lowest population that India and China encountered was in 1990 though the number was much higher for China. The highest population will be noticed in 2050 for India and 2030 for China. Overall India saw a more serious increase in population and trends show that it will have a continuing upward trenddifficulty in controlling it whereas China will show a positive trend after 2030 by showing a decline in population.
Why this response received Band 6.0
The response accurately captures the main projected pattern: India rises throughout, China peaks before declining slightly, and the populations converge around 2030. Its effectiveness is reduced by sparse early data, repeated graph-description language, grammatical slips, and unsupported judgments about population control. Prioritise a factual overview and organised time-period comparisons using approximate values at key years, while avoiding speculation.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The report captures the core trend: India rises throughout, China rises then declines slightly, and the two lines meet around 2030. It loses marks for unsupported commentary about population control, vague early comparisons, and some awkward interpretation of maxima.
Keep the overview factual and add approximate values at 1990, 2030, and 2050 without speculating about social consequences.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response has two paragraphs and generally follows the graph chronologically, but some overview information appears late and the order is a little repetitive.
Start with a concise overview, then describe 1990-2030 and 2030-2050 in separate phases.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is adequate but repetitive around “depicts” and “population”, and some collocations are inaccurate.
Use “stood at”, “is projected to”, “overtake”, “peak”, “decline”, and “reach” for clearer graph description.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Grammar errors include fragments, article problems, and plural/countability errors, but they rarely block meaning.
Check sentence boundaries and use “a population of” or “people”, not “populations”, when referring to a country’s total.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The line graph shows the projected population growth of China and India.
Your response
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