The graph below shows the average cost of housing in three different areas.
Sample Response
The bar graph compares the housing costs in two different years in rural, suburban and urbancity areas. As an overall trend, the housing price increased considerably in 2000 than that of 1990 and housing in city areas were far more expensive than it was in villages and towns. As can be seen in the column graph, the cost of accommodation in rural areasin village area was $75,00075 thousand dollars in 1990 and it was $25,000 higher25 thousand more in suburban areasthe suburban area. Housing costs in urban areasHousing cost in city areas was the highest and it was exactly twiceprecisely double than the price of houses in rural areas. After a decade, theAfter a decade the housing cost increased remarkably and in urban areas it reachedin city areas, it went as high as $300,000300 thousand dollars, which was exactly twice the 1990 figureexactly double than that of 1990’s housing price. The housing cost in suburban areas rose sharplyskyrocketed and reached $275,000reached to 275 thousand which was nearly three times the 1990 figurealmost 3 times higher than that of 10 years ago. Finally, the housing cost in rural areas also went up over the ten-year periodin the ten years’ time but was far lower than in urban areasfar cheaper than that of city areas.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response identifies the overall rise in housing costs and accurately supports the comparison with nearly all the key figures. Its main limitation is language control: recurring errors in comparisons, agreement, articles, and verb patterns make otherwise clear points sound awkward. Prioritise accurate comparative structures such as 'twice as high as' and 'rose to', while separating the overview and details into distinct paragraphs.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
A clear overview and well-selected figures give an accurate account of changes across all three areas.
Add the rural figure for 2000 and qualify the urban-suburban difference, which was relatively small that year.
Coherence and Cohesion
The report follows a logical sequence from the overview to 1990 and 2000 comparisons, but it is presented as one paragraph.
Use separate paragraphs for the overview and detailed comparisons so the hierarchy of information is immediately clear.
Lexical Resource
The response uses a reasonable range of trend and housing vocabulary, though repetition and several awkward collocations reduce precision.
Use natural combinations such as 'rose to $275,000', 'almost three times the 1990 figure', and 'urban housing'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Meaning remains clear and some complex sentences are attempted, but errors in comparison forms, agreement, articles, and verb patterns recur.
Practise forms such as 'higher than', 'twice as high as', and 'reached $275,000' while checking subject-verb agreement.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The graph below shows the average cost of housing in three different areas.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.