The graph below shows the population change between 1940 and 2000 in three different counties in the U.S. state of Oregon.
Sample Response
The graph shows the population growth in three countiesincrease in population of three counties, Columbia, Yamhill and Washington in the U.S. state of Oregon, between 1940 and 2000. In 1940, Columbia had the lowest population of the three counties, at around 25,000. This figure compared withThis compared with about 30,000 in Yamhill and approximately 75,000 in Washington.
By 1970, Columbia’s population had risen to just under 36,000. Although this appears on the graph to be a gentle increase, it is in fact an increase of approximately 4050%. Yamhill’s population also rose by nearly 50% between 1940 and 1970: from 30,000 to just under 45,000. However, the largest absolute increasethe greatest real increase was in Washington, where the population in 1970 had increased by approximately 5075,000, to 125,000.
The years 1970 to 2000 saw the populations of Columbia and Yamhill increase by approximately the same amounts that they had increased by the thirty years before. In 2000, Columbia’s population – at approximately 7576,000 – was triple what it had been in 1940. Likewise, Yamhill’s population, at around 90,000, was triplewas almost triple what it was in 1940.
Although Washington’s increase in population between 1940 and 1970 was large, its increase in the following thirty years was even sharper, rising from about 125,000 in 1970 to more than 240,000 in 2000.
Why this response received Band 8.0
The response is highly readable and compares the three counties effectively across the period, with particularly clear handling of the sharper growth after 1970. Its main limitation is factual precision: Washington rises by about 50,000, rather than 75,000, between 1940 and 1970, and the overall trend is not distilled into a dedicated overview. Prioritise a concise overview identifying universal growth and Washington’s dominant increase, then verify each calculated change.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The response covers all counties and periods with useful comparisons, but it miscalculates Washington’s 1940–1970 increase and provides only a limited overall summary.
Add a distinct overview stating that all populations rose while Washington remained largest and grew most, and correct its first-period increase to about 50,000.
Coherence and Cohesion
The chronological organisation is easy to follow, and each paragraph develops a coherent set of comparisons with smooth referencing.
Separate the broad overview from the opening data details so the main patterns are immediately visible before the chronological analysis.
Lexical Resource
Flexible comparative and trend vocabulary is used accurately and naturally, including language for proportions, amounts and changing rates.
Prefer the more precise phrase ‘largest absolute increase’ to ‘greatest real increase’ when comparing numerical growth.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response demonstrates a wide range of well-controlled sentence forms, including subordinate clauses, comparisons and parenthetical detail.
Maintain this accuracy while making the overview syntactically concise enough to foreground the two dominant trends.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The graph below shows the population change between 1940 and 2000 in three different counties in the U.S. state of Oregon.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.