Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-10-20

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)

The table illustrates changes in the percentages of people living in different household types in Great Britian in 1971 to 2007.

Overall, the proportion of people living alone and in-lone parents families increased, while the percentages residing in households with children declined considerably.

In 1971 and 1981, one person household was 6% and 8% respectively and there in no children household was 19% in 1971 and 20% in 1981.Dependent children household was 52% in 1971 and in 1981 it was 47% .Similarly ,there was 10% non dependent children in 1971 and 1981 .In 1971 there was 4% and in 1981 6% lone parent .

There was one person household in 1991 was 11% and 12% in 2001 and 2007 . There in no children percentage was 23% in 1991 and 25% in 2001 and 2007 respectively . Dependent children in 1991 was 41% and in 2001 it was 39% and in 2007 it was 36% . The non dependent children was 11% in 1991 and in 2001 and 2007 it was 9% respectively . Lone parents in 1991 was 10% and 12% in 2001 and 2007 .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You report the figures for all five household categories across the years, and the overview identifies two important patterns: more people lived alone or in lone-parent households, while the dependent-children category declined. The figures you give match the table. This is a relevant response to the task, although the overview is broad: “households with children declined considerably” does not distinguish the fall in dependent-children households from the rise in lone-parent households, and non-dependent children changed only slightly overall. The body mainly lists values year by year, so the key comparisons are not fully developed. To strengthen the response, highlight the largest category’s fall from 52% to 36%, and note that the no-children and lone-parent figures both reached 25% and 12% respectively by 2001 and then remained stable.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and two body sections covering the earlier and later years. This gives the reader a basic route through the information. However, the progression is largely a sequence of figures rather than a comparison of the main trends, and the repeated openings “In 1971 and 1981” and “There was…” make the report feel mechanical. Some links are awkward or unclear, such as “Similarly” before the non-dependent-children figures, which do not show a change between those years. Improve cohesion by grouping categories with similar trends and using clear comparisons, for example, contrasting the decline in dependent-children households with the rise in one-person households. Check spacing and punctuation around sentence boundaries as well.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for describing a table, including “percentages,” “proportion,” “declined,” and “increased,” and the household categories are generally identifiable. However, the range is limited and several phrases are inaccurate or unnatural, including “one person household,” “there in no children household,” and “lone parents families.” The spelling “Britian” is also incorrect, and “non dependent” should be written as “non-dependent.” These choices do not prevent the reader from understanding the data, but they reduce precision and naturalness. Use the table’s category labels consistently, and vary the language for reporting values with accurate expressions such as “accounted for,” “stood at,” and “rose to.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response communicates the figures using mostly simple sentence patterns, with some attempts to vary structure through time phrases and linking words. However, several sentences have faulty word order or incomplete grammatical patterns, such as “There was one person household in 1991 was 11%” and “Dependent children in 1991 was 41%.” There are also errors with articles, plurals, and agreement, as in “one person household was” and “The non dependent children was.” Punctuation and spacing are inconsistent, particularly around full stops and commas. These errors sometimes make the sentences difficult to process, even though the intended figures remain clear. Practise complete subject–verb structures, for example, “The proportion in one-person households stood at 11% in 1991,” and proofread each sentence for agreement and punctuation.

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