Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-15

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 5.0)

From 1968 to 2018 a survey in the specific has been made a brief review about the people. that how they spends their money at food. housing, fuel and power, clothing and footwear, household goods, personal goods, transport and leisure?

Mostly people about 23% of their weekly income like to spend for their leisure.

About 35% of their weekly income were utilized for getting food.

But in present era (2018) people about 16% spends their money for food, 18% for their housing, 4% for their fuel and power, 5% for their clothing and footwear, 7% to 9% for their household goods, 3% for their personal use goods, 14% for transport, and 9% for their amusement.

But a totally different scenerio has been observed in 1968 when mostly 35% people spends their money for food, 10% for housing, 6% for fuel and power, 8% for household goods, personal goods and for transport. While only 9% of their income they spends for leisure.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response attempts to address the task by summarizing the provided data. However, it fails to provide a clear overview of the main trends, which is a requirement for a high band score. The information is presented as a list of figures rather than a cohesive summary. Furthermore, the data reporting is inconsistent; for example, the student mentions 35% for food in 1968, but the comparison between the two years is disorganized and lacks a clear analytical structure. The response would benefit from grouping the categories into those that increased and those that decreased over the 50-year period to better highlight the main features.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay lacks a logical structure. It begins with a fragmented introduction and proceeds to list data points without clear paragraphing or thematic grouping. The use of cohesive devices is limited and often mechanical, such as the repetitive use of 'for their' and 'about'. The transition between the 2018 data and the 1968 data is abrupt, and the lack of a clear conclusion or summary makes the progression of ideas difficult to follow. To improve, the student should use clear topic sentences and linking words to guide the reader through the comparison of the two time periods.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is quite limited and repetitive. The student relies heavily on basic phrasing such as 'spends their money' and 'for their'. There is little attempt to use a range of vocabulary appropriate for describing statistical data, such as 'expenditure', 'proportion', 'allocated to', or 'fluctuated'. Some word choices are awkward, such as 'in the specific' and 'present era'. To reach a higher band, the student needs to incorporate more precise terminology related to financial trends and avoid the repetitive use of simple verbs.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text that occasionally impede clarity. Examples include 'a survey in the specific has been made a brief review' and 'that how they spends their money'. Subject-verb agreement is inconsistent (e.g., 'people... spends'). The sentence structures are largely simple or contain errors when attempting more complex constructions. Punctuation is also problematic, with unnecessary question marks and inconsistent capitalization. A focus on basic sentence construction and subject-verb agreement is essential for improvement.

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

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