Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-24

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 charts illustrates the data about how is the weekly average spending by families in one country from 1968 to 2018.

Overall,All eight categories had an important in families living in one country. Food has a highest weekly average spending by families in 1968, furthermore fuel and power has the lowest percentage during the same year. Additionally, in 2018 leisure has a highest percentage of weekly income, on the contrary of that, the lowest average percentage are personal goods, fuel and power in the same year.

In 1968 Food ranked first with 35 percent, followed by the housing and clothing and footware at 10 percent. Leisure got the third spot, whereas household, personal goods and transport got the 8 percent respectively, making the fuel and power the least weekly spent by families.

By 2018, Leisure figurehead climbed to 23%, maintaining its top position. The housing also saw a moderate increase to 19 % . Food recorded the most significant decline to 17%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the task by identifying main features and making comparisons. However, the overview is slightly confusing; stating that all categories had an 'important' impact is vague. Furthermore, the data reporting is incomplete. You missed several categories from the 2018 data (such as transport, household, and clothing), which prevents a full summary of the information provided. To improve, ensure you cover all key trends and provide a more precise summary of the most significant changes between the two years.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is sometimes mechanical or misused. For example, 'on the contrary of that' is an unnatural way to introduce a contrast. Additionally, the transition between the introduction and the body paragraphs is abrupt. While there is a logical progression from the overview to specific data, the internal cohesion within paragraphs could be improved by using a wider variety of linking words to connect sentences more fluidly.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks precision. You rely on basic verbs like 'got' and 'recorded'. There are also some awkward collocations, such as 'Leisure figurehead climbed', which does not accurately describe a statistical trend. Spelling errors, such as 'footware' instead of 'footwear', also detract from the quality of the writing. To reach a higher band, focus on using more academic vocabulary related to data description, such as 'accounted for', 'experienced a surge', or 'remained stable'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

There are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. For instance, 'The bar charts illustrates' contains a subject-verb agreement error. You also struggle with sentence structure, such as 'how is the weekly average spending', which should be an indirect question ('how the weekly average spending was'). While you attempt some complex structures, they are often marred by errors in word order or preposition usage. Focusing on basic sentence accuracy and subject-verb agreement will significantly improve your score.

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

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