Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-07

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 chart compares the data about the ways different families spent their weekly wage in a country in year 1968 and in 2018 . These families spent there overall weekly budget on 8 different entities which includes food , housing, fuel and power , clothing and footware , household goods , personal goods , transport and leisure.

Overall, the bart chart illustrates that almost 35% of families spent most of their weekly income on the basic need of human beings like food in the year 1968 as compared to year 2018 where less than 19% of population spent money on food while fuel and power were the things on which citizens spent very few in both years 1968 and 2018 even though there's contrast in both years.

To begin with the highest percentage of the chart in year 1968 almost 35% of weekly income of families was used to buy food as compared to year 2018 where the percentage of money dramatically dropped to 18% while the opposite in leisures where 22 % of money being spent in 2018 and less than 9% in 1968.

It can be clearly seen that in year 1968 most of the families spent there weekly income on food , fuel and power, clothing and footware, and on personal goods while in 2018 people spent more on housing ,transport and on their leisure.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response provides a clear overview and identifies key trends, such as the significant decline in food spending and the rise in leisure expenditure. However, the report lacks precision in data reporting. For instance, the statement that 'less than 19% of population spent money on food' in 2018 is vague, and the claim that 'fuel and power were the things on which citizens spent very few' is inaccurate, as the chart shows these categories remained relatively stable. Furthermore, the summary of categories in the final paragraph is somewhat repetitive and lacks a comparative analysis of the remaining items, which limits the depth of the response.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organised into logical paragraphs, with an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'To begin with' and 'It can be clearly seen', though some transitions feel slightly mechanical. The referencing is generally clear, but the flow between sentences could be improved to better connect the data points. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the overview from the detailed analysis, which helps the reader follow the progression of ideas.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task, with attempts to use descriptive terms like 'dramatically dropped' and 'contrast'. However, there are several spelling errors, such as 'footware' (footwear), 'bart' (bar), and 'leisures' (leisure). Additionally, there are word choice issues, such as using 'entities' to describe spending categories and 'there' instead of 'their'. While these errors do not impede communication, they indicate a need for more precise control over vocabulary and spelling to reach a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement and article usage, such as 'in year 1968' (in the year 1968) and 'spent there weekly income' (spent their weekly income). Punctuation is also inconsistent, with unnecessary spaces before commas. While the meaning is generally clear, the frequency of these minor errors prevents the response from reaching a higher band. More attention to proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy would be beneficial.

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