Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-12

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 4.5)

The bar graph gives information about who families usually spend there weekly salaries in 1968 and in the year 2018, the activities like food, housing, fuel and power clothing and footware, household goods, person goods, trasport and leisures, comparing the chances in 2 different years.

Back in days in 1968, we can see a huge amount of salary share were being consumed by food about 35%, which was significantly droped to 16 percent in 2018, another huge change can be seen is in leisure activities which in 2018 takes about 22% off the weekly income, which family used spend even less than 10% back in the days in 1968.

We can also see the share of Housing has also gone up from 10% to almost 20% from 1968 to 2018, we can see a drop in percentage of weekly salary usage in fuel and power, Clothing and footwear and personal goods, where as the share in household goods remain the same, but the share of transport has increased by around 5 % from the year 1968 to 2018.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response attempts to summarize the main features and comparisons of the chart regarding family spending in 1968 and 2018. The writer successfully identifies major trends, such as the dramatic decrease in food spending from 35% to 16% and the rise in leisure from under 10% to 22%, alongside mentions of housing and transport. However, there are omissions and inaccuracies in reporting the data; for example, the listing of categories in the introduction is muddled and overly conversational ('activities like food, housing, fuel and power clothing and footware...'). Furthermore, some comparisons lack precise data support. Because the main features are highlighted despite these structural and precision flaws, the response meets the criteria for Band 5.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0

The text suffers significantly from structural issues, most notably the excessive use of comma splices and run-on sentences. For instance, the entire introductory paragraph is a single long sentence strung together with commas ('The bar graph gives information about... comparing the chances in 2 different years'). Similarly, paragraphs two and three rely heavily on commas rather than full stops or appropriate subordinate clauses to connect ideas. Although there is a chronological progression from 1968 to 2018 and paragraphs are attempted, the severe lack of accurate punctuation and cohesive referencing results in a choppy and difficult reading experience. This aligns closely with the Band 4.0 descriptors.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is generally basic and repetitive, with noticeable spelling and word-choice errors throughout the response. Examples of lexical errors include 'who' instead of 'how', 'there' instead of 'their', 'footware' instead of 'footwear', 'person goods' instead of 'personal goods', 'trasport' instead of 'transport', and 'leisures' instead of 'leisure'. The writer attempts some topic-specific vocabulary such as 'weekly income', 'salary share', and 'leisure activities', but the numerous basic spelling mistakes and imprecise terms ('chances' instead of 'changes', 'Back in days') restrict the score. The lexical range is minimally adequate for the task, fitting the Band 5.0 descriptor.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

Grammatical control is weak throughout the response. The text is characterized by a complete absence of proper sentence boundaries in the introduction and second paragraph, leading to continuous run-on sentences connected entirely by commas. There are also frequent tense and agreement errors, such as 'which was significantly droped' (passive voice error with spelling mistake), 'which family used spend' (missing infinitive/modal verb structure), and 'where as the share in household goods remain the same' (plural/singular agreement). Due to the heavy reliance on faulty complex/compound structures and frequent basic errors that occasionally impede smooth comprehension, a band score of 4.0 is appropriate.

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