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 given bar graph illustrates the average weekly expenditure of families of a particular country, in year 1968 and 2018. Several factors are taken under consideration such as, food, housing, fuel, personal good, etc.

The graph makes it evident that amount of expenditure families were making in 1968 year are significantly higher in comparison of 2018 year. In the year 1968, people were spending majority of there money on food, as 35% of there income was spent for food, which dropped to half of its expenditure in 2018 to 17%. Furthermore, food sector is followed by housing sector, occupying 10% of income, increased to 18% after 20 years.

Apart from these sectors, fuel and power, clothing and footware, personal goods are the sectors which are facing decline in percentage of weekly income over the time period of 20 years. On the other half, transport, leisure and household goods are the factors which are consuming more weekly income of families after 20 years.

Therefore, it can be concluded that, there are several factors which are facing a decline in expenditure, whereas, several other areas are now consuming more weekly income such as, leisure, transport, household goods and housing.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

You have successfully identified the main trends and made relevant comparisons between the two years. However, there is a significant factual error in your interpretation of the data: you state that expenditure was higher in 1968 than in 2018, whereas the chart shows percentages of total income, not absolute monetary values. Furthermore, you incorrectly state that the housing sector increased 'after 20 years', when the period in question is 50 years (1968 to 2018). While you cover the main features, the accuracy of your data interpretation is compromised by these errors, which prevents a higher score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response is logically organized into clear paragraphs, with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. You use some cohesive devices such as 'Furthermore', 'Apart from these', and 'Therefore' to link ideas. However, the progression of information is occasionally hindered by awkward phrasing, such as 'On the other half', which is not a standard cohesive phrase. Additionally, the referencing is sometimes unclear, and the transition between the description of the sectors and the concluding summary could be smoother. Overall, the structure is coherent, but the use of cohesive devices is somewhat mechanical.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'expenditure', 'illustrates', and 'consuming'. However, there are several errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'personal good' (should be 'personal goods'), 'clothing and footware' (spelling error: 'footwear'), and 'there money' (should be 'their money'). These errors are noticeable but do not impede general communication. To improve, focus on using more precise academic vocabulary and ensuring correct spelling and possessive pronoun usage.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. For example, 'amount of expenditure families were making... are significantly higher' contains a subject-verb agreement error. You also have issues with articles ('in year 1968' should be 'in the year 1968') and prepositions ('in comparison of' should be 'in comparison with'). While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding your meaning, they occur frequently enough to limit your score in this criterion.

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

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