Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-02

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 cahrt illustrates the information about how families in one country spent their weekly income in 1968 and 2018.

Overall, food was the most popular spending habit in 1968, while spending on fuel and power was the least in the same year. In contrast, spending on leisure became the most popular by the end of 2018, whereas spending on personal goods was the least popular in the same year.

In 1968, people spent 35% of their income on food, which decreased significantly to almost 16% in 2018. Additionally, 10% of income was spent on housing in 1968, which increased to approximately 19% in 2018. Similarly, around 6% of people preferred to spend on fuel and power in 1968. This figure fell to a low of 4% in 2018. Furthermore, in 1968, 10% people spent their money on clothing and footware before reaching to half in 2018, accounting for 5%.

On the other hand, almost 8% of people spent their money on household goods in 1968, which remained unchanged in 2018. In addition, 8% of individuals used their money for personal goods, which decreased considerably to 4% in 2018. Meanwhile, around 8% of people spent their money on transport in 1968, which climbed to approximately 14% in 2018. Nevertheless,

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

You have successfully identified the main trends and provided relevant data to support your points. You covered all categories mentioned in the chart and made appropriate comparisons between 1968 and 2018. However, the response ends abruptly with the word 'Nevertheless,' which is an incomplete sentence. This omission means you failed to report on the final category (leisure) in the body paragraphs, which is a key feature of the data. To improve, ensure you complete all sentences and provide a full overview of all data points presented in the prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized into an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs. You use cohesive devices such as 'In contrast,' 'Additionally,' and 'On the other hand' to link ideas effectively. However, the sudden, unfinished ending significantly disrupts the flow and coherence of the final section. While the paragraphing is appropriate, the lack of a concluding sentence or a completed thought at the end of the final paragraph prevents the response from achieving a higher score. Ensure that every paragraph is brought to a logical conclusion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'decreased significantly,' 'remained unchanged,' and 'climbed.' There are some minor errors, such as 'cahrt' (spelling) and 'footware' (spelling). You also use 'popular' to describe spending habits, which is slightly imprecise in this context; 'expenditure' or 'proportion of income' would be more academic. To reach a higher band, try to incorporate more precise collocations and ensure accurate spelling throughout the text.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as 'In 1968, people spent 35% of their income on food, which decreased significantly to almost 16% in 2018.' While many sentences are accurate, there are some errors, such as '10% people' (should be '10% of people') and 'reaching to half' (should be 'reaching half'). The most significant issue is the incomplete sentence at the end, which is a major grammatical error. Focus on proofreading to catch these small slips and ensure all sentences have a subject and a predicate.

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

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