Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-05

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 graph compares the percentage of weekly expenditure of families in a nation from 1968 to 2018.

Overall, it can be seen that food is mostly prefered by most of the families and consumption on fuel and power is least. Moreover, the expenditure on housing and leisure activities is increased in the latter year.

Turning to the details, the expenditure on food has been reduced by 17% approximately from 1968 to 2018. The proportion of expenses on housing and leisure activities is almost same that is 9% to 10% in 1968 and increased to 20% in 2018. The consumption of fuel and power is declined from 7% to 4% in half century.

Moving further, the expenditure on household items remained at the same percentage of 8% for five decades. The spent on clothing and footwear and personal goods has been reduced to 5 approximately which was 8% to 10% in 1968. The expenses on transportation climbed from 7% to 14% in the tenure of 50 years.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers the main features of the data well, identifying key trends such as the decline in food expenditure and the rise in housing and leisure costs. However, there are some inaccuracies in data reporting. For instance, stating that housing and leisure were '9% to 10% in 1968 and increased to 20% in 2018' is slightly confusing, as these were separate categories. Additionally, the claim that food is 'mostly preferred' is an inappropriate use of language for a data report, as the graph shows expenditure, not preference. The overview is present but could be more precise.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized into paragraphs, with a clear introduction, overview, and body paragraphs. Cohesive devices such as 'Turning to the details', 'Moreover', and 'Moving further' are used to guide the reader through the information. However, the referencing is occasionally imprecise, and some transitions feel slightly mechanical. The progression of ideas is generally clear, but the connection between sentences could be smoother to achieve a higher band score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task, using terms like 'expenditure', 'proportion', and 'tenure'. However, there are some awkward word choices, such as 'mostly prefered' (which is inaccurate for a chart about spending) and 'the spent on' (which is grammatically incorrect). The student attempts to use varied vocabulary but lacks the precision required for higher bands. Spelling is generally accurate, but the overall lexical control is limited.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'consumption on fuel and power is least' (should be 'the least'), 'is increased' (passive voice error), and 'is declined' (should be 'has declined'). While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the main points, they are frequent enough to impact the overall fluency. More attention to verb tenses and article usage would improve the accuracy.

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

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