Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-09-12

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The table below shows the change in some household types in Great Britain from 1971 to 2007.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

PEOPLE IN HOUSEHOLDS BY TYPE OF HOUSEHOLD AND FAMILY

Student answer (Band 5.5)

There is a table presenting the changes in different types of households in Great Britain during the timeline 1971 to 2007. Basically, the table is showing the percentage of two types of households: one containing single person and the other containing a family or a group of people.

The table data are represented into five years including 1971, 1981, 1991, 2001 and 2007. The years 2001 and 2007 have the highest percentage of one person households which is 12% in both of the years. This is followed by the year 1991 with 11% and then 1981 with 8% of households with single individual.

On the other hand, the one-family household is divided into two categories of lone parent and couple with the later one further classified into no-children, dependent children and independent children sub-categories. The percentage of lone parents are least at the starting which then increased gradually from 4 to 12 till 2007. The same is in the case couple with no-children whose percentage went high from 19 to 25 during the timeline. Conversely, the percentage of households with dependent children declined over time from 52 to 36. Interestingly, there were flactuations in the percentage of non-dependent children households. It first rose from 10 to 11 then went down to 9 and remained constant till 2007.

Overall, the number of one person households and childless households have increased during these 37 years.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers the main features of the table well, reporting data across multiple categories such as one-person households, lone parents, and couples with or without children. Key trends are identified, including the rise in one-person households and lone-parent families, alongside a decline in households with dependent children. However, there are some minor data inaccuracies and omissions in the reporting, such as misinterpreting the peak percentages for certain groups. The overview correctly highlights the general increase in one-person and childless households over the 37-year period. Overall, the task is adequately addressed, placing the response in the Band 6.0 category.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is organized into clear paragraphs, starting with an introduction, moving to body paragraphs detailing specific household categories, and concluding with a summary. Cohesive devices are used to link ideas, such as 'On the other hand', 'Conversely', and 'Overall'. However, referencing and transitions are sometimes mechanical or slightly awkward, such as 'the later one' instead of 'the latter one'. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to structure the information logically, resulting in a coherent overall arrangement that meets the criteria for Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task, with appropriate topic-specific terms such as 'percentage', 'households', 'categories', and 'sub-categories'. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary, such as 'flactuations' (which contains a spelling error) and 'independent children'. There are noticeable word choice and spelling inaccuracies, such as 'flactuations' instead of 'fluctuations' and 'later' instead of 'latter'. Despite these errors, communication is not impeded, demonstrating an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for a Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'The percentage of lone parents are least at the starting which then increased gradually...' and 'Interestingly, there were flactuations...'. There are several grammatical and mechanical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('percentage... are least', 'couple with no-children whose percentage went high'), spelling errors ('flactuations'), and minor preposition or article slips. Nevertheless, these errors rarely impede communication and the mix of structures supports a Band 6.0 score.

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