Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-26

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)

The chart illistrute the average weekly spending by families from 1968 to 2018 dividing in diffirent catagories like: food, housing, fuel and power, clothing and footware, household goods, personal goods, transport and leisure.

Overall the chart illusrate that the highest spending is in food and lowest spending is fuel and power in 1968 whereas in 2018 the highest spending is leisure and the lowest spending is personal goods.

on the other hand household goods is the ony spending that hadn't change since 1968. While other like: fuel and clothing incerease in 1968 and decrease in 2018 and transort has increase throughout the year 1968 to 2018.

Therefore the weekly spending by families mostly went to food in 1968 and leisure in 2018.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.5

The response fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 150 words, which significantly impacts the ability to fully develop the response. While you identify some main features, the analysis is superficial and lacks the necessary detail to provide a comprehensive summary. Several claims are inaccurate based on the data (e.g., stating household goods did not change, when the chart shows a clear shift). To improve, you must ensure you reach the word count by providing more specific data points and comparing the trends across the two years more thoroughly rather than just listing categories.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay is organized into short paragraphs, but the logical progression is weak. The use of cohesive devices is mechanical and sometimes misused, such as 'on the other hand' to introduce a point that does not contrast with the previous sentence. The referencing is occasionally unclear, and the lack of sufficient length makes the overall structure feel underdeveloped. To improve, focus on using a wider variety of linking words (e.g., 'in contrast', 'subsequently', 'whereas') to connect your ideas more fluidly and ensure each paragraph has a clear, singular focus.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is limited and repetitive, with several spelling errors such as 'illistrute', 'diffirent', 'catagories', 'footware', and 'transort'. You rely on basic descriptors and struggle to use precise terminology to describe trends (e.g., 'increase' and 'decrease' are used without specifying the degree of change). To reach a higher band, you should incorporate more sophisticated vocabulary related to data description, such as 'fluctuated', 'remained stable', 'witnessed a significant rise', or 'accounted for the largest proportion'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including issues with subject-verb agreement ('the chart illistrute', 'spending... hadn't change') and tense consistency. The sentence structures are mostly simple, and there is a lack of complex sentence forms. Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with the use of colons and commas. To improve, focus on mastering basic sentence construction and ensuring that your verbs match the time frame of the data (past tense for 1968, present or past for 2018).

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

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