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 CHAT INFORMATION ABOUT HOE FAMILIES IN SINGLE COUNTRY SPENT WEEKLY INCOME IN 1968 AND 2018. OVERALL, THE BAR CHAT CLEAR THAT 1968 AND 2018 AVERAGE WEEKIY SPENDING BY FAMILIES THAN EIGHT GRAPH IN THE CHAT THAN FIRTS FOOD AND LAST LEISURE . LEISURE OVERTEKING BY HOUSING IN 2018.

IN 1968, FAMILION THEIR WEEKLY INCOME IN FOOD BY 35% INCOME IN 1968 THAN HOUSING WEEKLY INCOME BY 2018 IN 18% OF WEEKLY INCOME . LEISURE OVERTAKING BY HOUSING WEEKLY INCOME IN 2018 . HOUSING INCOME IN 1968 BY 10% . THAN FUEL AND POWER LOW INCOME IN 2018 BY 0.5% INCOME IN 2018.

HOWEVER, IT IS HOUSEHOLD GOODS OF WEEKLY INCOME ARE SAME BY 1968 AND 2018 BY 5.5% . THAN TRANSPORT OF WEEKLY INCOME IN 2018 BY THE 10.3% THAN 1968 TRANSPORT INCOME BY 5.6% THAN LAST AND ONE GRAPH IS LEISURE OF WEEKLY INCOME BY 2018 IN 20.2% AND LOW INCOME BY FUEL AND POWER AND PERSONAL GOODS BY INCOME IN 0.3% BY 2018 . THE BAR CHAT ARE END.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response attempts to address the task by mentioning several categories from the chart, such as food, housing, leisure, and transport, along with some percentages. However, the information presented is frequently inaccurate, confused, or hard to follow (e.g., stating that household goods were the same by 5.5% or reporting fuel and power as 0.5% and 0.3%). The overview is disjointed and fails to clearly summarize the main overall trends between 1968 and 2018. The lack of accurate data reporting and clear comparisons means the task is only partially addressed, corresponding to a band 4.5 or rounded to 5.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0

The response suffers from severe issues regarding organization and logical progression. The text is written in all-caps and is chunked into three awkward blocks of text without appropriate or clear paragraph development. Cohesive devices are largely absent or misused, with repetitive sentence openings and disjointed clauses (e.g., 'THAN LAST AND ONE GRAPH IS LEISURE...'). There is no clear overall progression of ideas, making it very difficult for the reader to follow the flow of information. This reflects the descriptors for Band 4.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.0

The vocabulary used is very basic, repetitive, and heavily reliant on direct lifting or misinterpretation of terms from the prompt (e.g., 'BAR CHAT', 'FAMILION', 'HOE FAMILIES'). There are numerous spelling errors and incorrect word choices throughout the text, such as 'WEEKIY' for weekly, 'OVERTEKING' for overtaken, and 'FIRTS' for first. The limited range of vocabulary and frequent lexical errors significantly impede communication and strain the reader, aligning closely with Band 4.0 descriptors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

The response demonstrates a very limited range of grammatical structures. Almost all attempted complex or compound structures are severely flawed, resulting in fragmented and ungrammatical sentences (e.g., 'IN 1968, FAMILION THEIR WEEKLY INCOME IN FOOD BY 35% INCOME...'). There is a complete lack of basic grammatical control, with missing verbs, incorrect prepositions, and improper sentence boundaries. Errors are extremely frequent and constantly distort meaning, placing this submission firmly in Band 3.5 to 4.0.

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

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