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 chart compares information about how families spent their weekly income in the eight different categories in 1968 and in 2018.

Overall, over the period, some categories increased and decreased. In 1968, food accounted for the highest proportion and lowest was fuel and power. In 2018, leisure activity increased and personal goods and fuel and power recorded decrement.

In 1968, the expenditure on the food was represent the greatest figures which was 35% while, it declined drastically and reached at 16%. Next, family spent 10% on housing region in 1968 whereas, it inclined and accounted at 19% in 2018. The next categories, fuel and power and personal goods had same percentage in 2018 which was 4%. However, in 1968 these two categories had large numbers compared to 2018 it was nearly 6% and 8% respectively.

In contrast, leisure activity accounted at the largest in the 2018 which was around 23%. These activity was below 10% in 1968. Clothing and footwear region was spent around 10% by the time, it fell in half of the numbers and recorded at 5%. Household goods was on the same proportion in both the year which was nearly 8%. In 1968, ratio of transport facility was at 7% however, in 2018, it climbed and reached at 14%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers all parts of the task by identifying the main trends and comparing the two years. You successfully highlighted the significant shift in food expenditure and the rise in leisure activities. However, the overview is somewhat simplistic; it mentions that categories 'increased and decreased' without specifying the most significant changes. To reach a higher band, ensure the overview provides a more analytical summary of the most striking differences or trends, such as the inversion of the importance of food versus leisure. The data is generally accurate, though the description of 'personal goods' and 'fuel and power' as having a 'decrement' is slightly imprecise in this context.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is logically organized into paragraphs, with a clear introduction, overview, and two body paragraphs. You use some cohesive devices like 'In contrast', 'However', and 'whereas' to link ideas. However, the flow is occasionally hindered by mechanical phrasing and repetitive sentence structures. For example, the transition between sentences in the third paragraph feels a bit disjointed. To improve, try to vary your linking words and ensure that the progression of ideas within paragraphs is smoother by using more sophisticated referencing (e.g., 'this figure', 'the former', 'the latter') rather than repeating category names.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'expenditure', 'proportion', and 'drastically'. However, there are several instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors, such as 'housing region' (instead of 'housing'), 'accounted at' (instead of 'accounted for'), and 'ratio of transport facility' (instead of 'expenditure on transport'). These errors do not impede communication, but they do limit the precision of your writing. To improve, focus on learning the specific collocations used to describe statistical data, such as 'accounted for', 'rose to', or 'remained stable'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Issues include incorrect verb forms ('the expenditure on the food was represent'), subject-verb agreement ('These activity was'), and prepositional errors ('reached at 16%'). While these errors are noticeable, they rarely prevent the reader from understanding your meaning. To achieve a higher band, focus on mastering basic sentence construction and subject-verb agreement. Ensure that you are not adding unnecessary prepositions after verbs like 'reached' or 'accounted for'.

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

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