Sample Response
The given illustration elucidates the birth, death and population growth ratesnativity, death and population growth rate in Scotland from 1940 and gives projections tofrom 1940 and gives projection till the year 2020. Generally speaking, population growth rate in Scotland dropped to almost zero around 2003 and the death rate is projected to risedeath cases would rise in the future. As can be seen from the given line graph, the birth rate in Scotlandnatality in Scotland in 1940 stood at 2.5% while mortality was 1.5%. Population growth rate at that time was just below 1% which afterwards increased sharplysharlply untiltill 1955 with a slight drop in early 1940s. The birthfertility rate showed an overall downward trend with some fluctuations and fell to around 0.4% by 2015reached to zero after 2000. MeanwhileOn the contrary, the death rate decreasedmortality rate decreased rapidly till 1960 when it stood at just below 0.5% and after that fluctuated at a low level until 2010remained nearly stable till 2010. With regardregards to population growthgrowth of population, it reached itsthe peak in 1955 and stood at 1.5% and then kept on decreasing before falling to nilreaching to nill. The line graph also predicts that the death ratecases in Scotland will rise in the future and would intersect the fertility rate in around 2018 when they would stay at around 0.5%just below one percent. In summary, the demographic statistics depicts that Scotland managed to nullify its population growth in around 2003 while the mortality and fertility rate would stood at the same level in the future.
Why this response received Band 6.0
The response correctly identifies the mid-1950s peak in population growth and its fall to around zero after 2000, while also recognising the projected rise in the death rate. Its main limitation is confusion between the birth-rate and population-growth lines, leading to inaccurate claims that fertility reaches zero and that rates intersect near one percent. The priority is to label each series correctly and verify projected endpoint values.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
Several broad trends are recognised, but conflating birth rate with population growth creates major inaccuracies in the description of later values and projections.
Track each labelled line separately: birth rate declines to about 0.5%, population growth reaches zero around 2003, and death rate rises to meet birth rate near 2020.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response moves from an overview to individual trends in a broadly coherent order, although the final summary repeats earlier content.
Organise one paragraph around birth and death rates and another around population growth, keeping each series consistently labelled.
Lexical Resource
There is some range for trends and projections, but terms such as 'nativity', 'death cases', 'nullify', and 'nill' are inaccurate or unnatural.
Use precise demographic terms consistently: 'birth rate', 'death rate', 'population growth rate', 'fall to zero', and 'is projected to rise'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of sentence structures communicates the general message, but tense, agreement, article, and preposition errors recur frequently.
Maintain consistent past and projected-future forms and correct patterns such as 'from 1940 to 2020', 'reached zero', and 'the statistics depict'.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The figure shows demographic trends in Scotland.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.