Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-10-30

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 given table illustrates several change in the household type in Great Britain in 1971 to 2007.

Overall, it can be seen that dependent children had the highest household rates. In contrast, lone parent household group had the lowest.

In detail, in 1971 one person household rate 6% and after the decade the percentages rise at 8% and 11% in 1971. However, non-dependent children household rate was slightly high in 1971 to 1991, which was by 10% to 11% also between 2001 and 2007 that rate was drop at 9%. No children household and family had modest trend at 19 in 1991 and this trend slightly increase by 20% to 25% from 1981 to 2007. While, lone parents household and family had the lowest rate at 4% and 6% in 1971 to 1981, whereas from 1991 to 2007 the percentages surge at 12%. in comparison to, dependent children had the highest rate over the period at 52% in 1971 and 47% in 1981, but the trend go down 41% to 36% in 1991 to 2007.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the broad pattern that dependent-child households were the largest category and that one-person and lone-parent households increased. However, the overview is not fully accurate: lone-parent households were not the lowest in every year, since non-dependent-child households were lower in 2001 and 2007. Some figures and dates are also confused: the one-person rate rose from 6% in 1971 to 8% in 1981 and 11% in 1991, not “11% in 1971”; the no-children figure was 23% in 1991, rather than 19%. The account also omits the final 12% for one-person households and gives limited comparison across categories. Report the main trends accurately, then support them with correctly matched years and values.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic structure, with an introduction, an overview and a detail paragraph, and it attempts to connect comparisons using phrases such as “In contrast,” “However” and “whereas.” This gives the reader some sense of organisation. However, the detail paragraph moves between categories and time periods without a clear sequence, making comparisons difficult to follow. Several transitions are inaccurate or awkward, including “in comparison to,” and the sentence beginning “No children household and family” is hard to interpret. Organise the details into clearer groups—for example, rising categories and the declining dependent-children category—and use linking phrases only where the relationship is clear. This would create more consistent progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant task vocabulary, including “percentages,” “dependent children,” “non-dependent children” and “lone parent,” so the topic is generally recognisable. However, the range is limited and several word combinations are unnatural or imprecise, such as “household rates,” “had modest trend” and “the percentages surge at 12%.” Repetition of “rate,” “trend” and “household” also makes the description less flexible. Choose standard chart language and use it consistently: describe a percentage as rising, falling or remaining stable, and refer to household categories rather than repeatedly calling them rates. More accurate collocations would make the comparisons clearer and more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and longer sentences, including clauses introduced by “while,” “whereas” and “however.” Nevertheless, errors are frequent, and some sentences are difficult to understand. Examples include “several change,” “one person household rate 6%,” and “the trend go down,” which show problems with plurals, sentence structure and verb agreement. Tense and preposition patterns are also unreliable, as in “rise at 8%” and “from 1991 to 2007 the percentages surge.” Punctuation and capitalisation need attention, particularly the lowercase “in comparison” after a full stop. Build accurate short sentences first, then combine them with controlled clauses and check that each sentence has a subject and a correctly formed verb.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.