The chart below shows information about average house prices in five different cities between 1990 and 2002 compared with average house prices in 1989.
Sample Response
The graph illustrates the percentage changes in average house pricesfigures of average house prices in the five different cities during the period from 1990 to 2002, in comparison with the data in 1989. Overall, there was an upward shift in the percentage change in house pricesan upward trend in the percentage of change of house prices during the period shown in almost all of the cities except for Frankfurt.
As can be clearly seen, there was a considerable fall by approximately 5% in the proportion change of estate prices in New York between 1990 and 1995. Likewise, Tokyo and London, whose figures were similarTokyo and London, which had the same figures, witnessed a dramatic decrease by about 7% over the same period. However, the figures for Madrid and Frankfurt were around 2% eacharound 2% and 3%, respectively.
During the latter period from 1996 to 2002, the figure for London was the highest at just over 10%with more than 10% in the percentage of change of house prices. During the same period, the rates at which the house prices increased were about 5% in New York and 4% in Madrid. This rate in Frankfurt was 2%, approximately the same as in the first period2%, lower than than in the first 5-year period. Finally, the percentage change in Tokyo fell by around 5% between 1996 and 2002.
Why this response received Band 8.0
This is a well-selected and logically structured account that identifies the central contrast between the two periods and reports nearly all major figures accurately. The main weakness is occasional imprecise or awkward phrasing, including descriptions of percentage change as a fall occurring within a period. Prioritise expressing every bar explicitly as a change from the 1989 baseline and polish collocations to make the otherwise strong comparisons fully precise.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The overview captures the broad shift across the two periods, and the response selects and compares all five cities with largely accurate figures.
State consistently that each value is a percentage change from 1989, particularly when describing Tokyo's negative figure in 1996-2002.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information is organised very clearly by period, and cohesive devices guide the reader smoothly through the city comparisons.
Make the transition from the overview to the two period-based detail paragraphs even tighter by foregrounding the negative-to-positive contrast.
Lexical Resource
The response uses a broad range of trend and comparison vocabulary, though phrases such as proportion change of estate prices are not fully natural or precise.
Prefer precise collocations such as percentage change in house prices and prices were five percent below the 1989 level.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex sentences are frequent and generally well controlled, with only isolated slips such as the repeated word in lower than than.
Proofread for small duplication and article or preposition choices while retaining the effective range of comparative structures.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The chart below shows information about average house prices in five different cities between 1990 and 2002 compared with average house prices in 1989.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.