Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-01

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 illusrates how famililes spent their weekly income across eight catergories in 1968 and 2018 in one country.

Overall, the average spending was decreased on food, fuel and power, clothing and footware, and personal goods, whereas it recorded a significant in crease on leisure activities, housing and transportation. By contrast, spending on household and goods remained stable over the both period.

Average weekly spending on food was experienced a substantial fall from 35% to just above 15% between the two recorded years. A similar trend was observed in fuel and power group, spending on these categories standing at around 5 % in both years. Notably, families expenditure on clothing and footware, and personal goods remained at or below ten percent. Clothing and footware represented 10% in 1968 before declining to 5% in 2018, decreasing by half, while personal goods accouted for approximately 9% in1968 compared with only about 4% in the second period.

However, money spending on leisure activities, housing and transportation were witnessed a marked growth, with leisure activities by far representing the most significant growth from just under 10% to about 23%, followed by housing category, which made up only 10% before growing substantially to just under 20%, while spending on transport reamined under 15% in both years. By contrast, families spent same average percent household and goods about 8%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response covers all parts of the task by identifying the main features and making relevant comparisons between 1968 and 2018. You successfully highlighted the significant shifts in spending, such as the decline in food and the rise in leisure and housing. However, there are some inaccuracies in the data reporting; for instance, you stated that fuel and power remained at 5% in both years, whereas the chart shows a decrease from approximately 6% to 3%. Additionally, the claim that household goods remained stable is slightly inaccurate as the chart shows a slight decrease. Despite these minor data interpretation errors, the overall summary is clear and effectively addresses the prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response is logically organized with a clear introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs. You use cohesive devices such as 'By contrast', 'Notably', and 'while' to link ideas. However, the use of these devices is sometimes mechanical or slightly awkward, such as in the phrase 'money spending on leisure activities... were witnessed a marked growth'. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the declining categories from the increasing ones. To improve, ensure that transitions flow more naturally and avoid repetitive sentence structures at the start of paragraphs.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'substantial fall', 'marked growth', and 'accounted for'. There are several spelling errors, such as 'illusrates', 'famililes', 'catergories', 'footware', and 'accouted', which detract from the overall quality. While you attempt to use less common vocabulary, the persistent spelling mistakes and occasional word-choice errors (e.g., 'money spending' instead of 'expenditure') limit the score. Focusing on accuracy in spelling and more precise collocations will help you reach a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Examples include 'Average weekly spending on food was experienced a substantial fall' (incorrect passive voice) and 'money spending... were witnessed a marked growth' (subject-verb agreement and voice issues). There are also issues with prepositions and articles, such as 'remained stable over the both period'. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. You should focus on mastering basic sentence construction and subject-verb agreement.

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

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