Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-11-05

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The chart below gives information about how families in one country spent their weekly income in 1968 and in 2018.

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

1968 and 2018: average weekly spending by families

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The bar chart shows the information about how people was spent their weekly income in a specific country between 1968 and 2018.

Overall, people spent their income mostly in food which is converted by leisure between this period. Reversely, people are cheap about spenting money on fuel and power. most interesting fact is that, spenting on household goods are same and clothing and footware decreased almost half between 1968 and 2018.

In 1968, 35% of money was spent by food whereas spent on fuel and power, Household goods, personal goods, transport goods and leisure were fluctuate between 7% from their income. People spent exactly 10% of their income on housing and clothing and footware.

Finally in 2018, almost 20% money was utilized by people in leisure whereas food and housing fluctuate between 16% . Same percentage of money expended by fuel and power and personal goods where cloothing and footwear and household goods was 5% and almost 8%

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main shift from food to leisure and note that household-goods spending stayed the same, which gives the report a relevant overview. Several figures are also broadly accurate: food was 35% in 1968, while housing and clothing were each 10%. However, the overview is unclear when it says spending on food “is converted by leisure,” and the claim that people were “cheap” about fuel does not describe the data precisely. Some details are misreported: in 1968, the listed categories did not all fluctuate around 7% (leisure was 9%, and fuel was 6%); in 2018, food was 17% and housing 19%, not both around 16%. Report the largest changes and key figures more clearly and accurately.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate paragraphs for the two years. This makes the information generally easy to follow, and phrases such as “In 1968” and “Finally in 2018” help signal the time periods. However, the overview’s ideas are not clearly connected, and “Reversely” does not establish a logical contrast. The final paragraph also combines several figures in a long, difficult-to-follow sentence, while “whereas” and “where” do not clearly show which categories are being compared. Group the main increases and decreases, and use clear comparison links such as “by contrast” or “while” with explicit category names.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some task-related vocabulary, including “weekly income,” “percentage,” “decreased,” and “utilized,” and you attempt to vary the wording for spending. However, several choices are inaccurate or unnatural for describing a chart: “people was spent,” “converted by leisure,” “cheap about spenting,” and “fluctuate between” obscure the intended meaning. There are also spelling errors, including “cloothing” and “footware.” These issues make some comparisons harder to understand and show that word choice and collocation are not yet consistently controlled. Prefer precise reporting verbs and standard category names, and check spelling carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including comparisons with “whereas,” and the reader can usually identify the two years being discussed. However, errors in sentence structure and verb forms recur. For example, “how people was spent their weekly income” has an incorrect subject–verb pattern, and “household goods are same” needs an article and a past-tense verb to match the period being described. In “fuel and power, Household goods … were fluctuate,” the verb construction is faulty. Some sentences also lack clear grammatical links between clauses, particularly the final sentence. Practise accurate past-tense reporting and build comparisons with complete, parallel clauses.

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