The chart below shows information about changes in average house prices in five different cities between 1990 and 2002 compared with the average house prices in 1989.
Sample Response
The bar chart demonstrates what changes five major cities experienced in average house prices in the span of periods: 1990-1995 and 1996-2002, compared with the average home value of 1989. Overall, house priceshouse buying costs went down considerably in New York, Tokyo and London during 1990-1995between the period of 1990-1996 while prices rose dramaticallyit augmented dramatically in London with increaseswith a gradual increase in New York and MadridMadrid cities during 1996-2002. A closer look at the graph shows thatreveals the fact that average house purchase pricesaverage houses purchasing price during 19901900-1995 in Tokyo and London decreased by approximately 7–8%by approximately 7% compared with the average price in 1989. However, during the same period, Madrid and Frankfurt experienced a property price rise by about 1% and 1.5% respectively. Looking at the figures between 1996-2002, the average house price in Londonaverage house price in London rose dramatically by almost 12%went up dramatically, almost 12%, the largest increase shownthe largest property price hike. Meanwhile, property prices roseupsurged by 5%, just below 5% and around 1% respectivelyconsecutively in New York, Madrid and Frankfurt. Interestingly, only TokyoLondon went through a 5% declinewent through 5% decline in average house pricesaverage price of houses over the same period of time.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response is strongest in its clear period-by-period organisation and its identification of London's sharp later rise. However, several figures are inaccurate, and the final sentence wrongly attributes the later 5% fall to London rather than Tokyo, contradicting an earlier statement. The highest-priority improvement is to verify every city label and value against the chart before writing the overview and details.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The response provides an overview and covers both periods, but inaccurate figures and the incorrect final identification of London weaken data accuracy.
Check each bar carefully and report that Tokyo, not London, fell by about 5% in 1996-2002.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information progresses logically from the overview to details for each period, although the contradictory final sentence disrupts the account.
Use one consistently ordered comparison for all five cities in each period and remove statements that conflict with earlier data.
Lexical Resource
There is a useful range of trend vocabulary, but several choices and collocations, such as "average houses purchasing price" and "upsurged," are unnatural.
Prefer precise standard phrases such as "average house prices rose" and "recorded a decline" over strained alternatives.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses a mix of sentence structures, but recurring article, noun-phrase, preposition, and time-expression errors reduce control.
Review complex noun phrases and period expressions, using forms such as "during 1990-1995" and "the average price of houses."
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The chart below shows information about changes in average house prices in five different cities between 1990 and 2002 compared with the average house prices in 1989.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.