Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-10-24

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 REPRESENTS THE PEOPLE IN HOUSEHOLDS BY THE TYPE OF HOUSEHOLD AND FAMILY IN GREAT BRITAIN FROM THE YEAR 1971 TO 2007. FROM THE TABLE SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE CAN BE SEEN IN ONE PERSON HOUSEHOLD TYPE IN WHICH 1971 HAD 6% WHILE 2007 HAS 12%. THEN COMPARSIONS WERE DONE ON ONE-FAMILY HOUSEHOLDS. COUPLE HAVING NO CHILDREN HAS GRADUALLY INCREASED OVER THE YEARS BY 2 PERCENT WHICH IS MUCH LESSER THAN COUPLE HAVING DEPENDENT CHILDREN WHICH IS DECREASING OVER THE YEARS, WITH NON-DEPENDENT CHILDREN BEING AT THE LOWEST AND DECREASING BY THE YEARS. FINALLY COMPARISON WAS DONE ON LONE PARENT FOR WHICH THE PERCENTAGE ALSO HAS SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED FROM 4 PERCENT TO 12 PERCENT.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the table’s subject and report several relevant changes, including the rise in one-person households from 6% to 12% and in lone-parent households from 4% to 12%. However, the response only partially covers the main features: it gives no clear overview of the dominant trend, namely the decline in households with dependent children from 52% to 36%, and it does not accurately describe the other categories. No-children couples rose by 6 percentage points, not 2, while non-dependent-child households rose slightly before falling to 9%, rather than decreasing throughout. The response is also 37 words below the required minimum, limiting the detail and comparisons provided. Include a concise overview and report the key figures accurately.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response follows a basic sequence, moving from one-person households to one-family households and then lone parents. Connectors such as “Then” and “Finally” help signal this order, so the reader can follow the broad topic changes. However, the whole answer is presented as one block, and the repeated phrasing “comparison was done” makes the progression sound mechanical rather than analytical. Some links between ideas are unclear: the sentence about couples combines the increase in no-children households with the decline in dependent-child households and the claim about non-dependent children without clearly separating the comparisons. Use an overview paragraph followed by a paragraph grouping the main increases and decreases, with more precise linking.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant task vocabulary, including “household,” “percentage,” “increased,” and “decreasing,” and the meaning is generally understandable. However, the range is limited and several expressions are imprecise or repetitive. “Comparisons were done” is an awkward way to describe what the table shows, while “at the lowest” does not clearly explain whether you mean the smallest share or a downward trend. “Much lesser” is also an inaccurate collocation, and “by the years” is not a natural expression for change over time. Choose precise reporting language such as “accounted for,” “rose,” “fell,” and “remained stable,” and vary the wording while keeping comparisons tied to the figures.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response attempts some longer sentence structures, particularly the sentence beginning “Couple having no children,” and uses past and present forms to describe the table. However, control is uneven, and several grammatical problems make the relationships between ideas less clear. For example, “Significant difference can be seen” lacks an article, and “Couple having no children has gradually increased” has an unclear subject and agreement. The sentence joining several household categories with commas is also difficult to follow and would benefit from being divided into shorter, complete sentences. Use consistent past-tense reporting for the period and check articles, subject–verb agreement, and sentence boundaries.

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