Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-13

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 utilization of weekly pay by families of one nation in 1968 and five decades later.

Overall, according the information provided, maximun money was used in food by the people in 1968 whereas in 2018 individuals spent most lesiure activities.

To began with, the areas where more money were used in 1968 were food iteams (35%) and fashion (10%) of weekly icome. However, 50 years later this percentage reduced to 17% and 5% respectively.

As compared to 1968, in 2018 more salaries were utilized for activities that gave personal satisfaction (22%), followed by housing (19%). Earlier this used to be significantly less between 5-10% for both areas.

Also i n 2018 14% of pay goes in transportation which was half of this in the past. Fuel and power is another necessity that used 4-6% of income throughout years.

Moreover, money consumption on household goods remained intact during all this years ( about 7%).

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student attempts to cover the main features of the bar graph comparing average weekly family spending in 1968 and 2018. An overview is provided, noting the shift from food to leisure activities as the highest expenditure. Key data points are selected and reported, such as food dropping from 35% to 17% and leisure rising to 22%. However, there are some inaccuracies in reporting the data; for instance, the student states that individuals spent most on leisure activities in 2018, whereas the chart shows 'leisure' at 22% and 'housing' at 19%, but other categories like food are lower at 17%. Furthermore, some comparisons lack precision and the detail is slightly limited. Consequently, the response fulfills the basic requirements of Task 1 but demonstrates some under-development and minor inaccuracies in data interpretation, placing it at a Band 5.5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is organized into a basic introduction, an overview paragraph, and several body paragraphs outlining different spending categories. There is a general attempt at a logical progression, starting with the overall trend and moving into specific details. However, cohesive devices are often mechanical, inaccurate, or awkwardly phrased, such as 'To began with', 'Also i n 2018', and 'Throughout years'. Paragraphing is attempted, but transitions between ideas feel abrupt and disjointed. Referencing is sometimes unclear, and the overall structural flow lacks seamlessness. These features align closely with the Band 5.5 descriptors, where organisation is present, but progression and cohesion are flawed.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, covering common terms related to finance and household expenses like 'income', 'percentage', 'transportation', and 'household goods'. The student attempts some less common vocabulary such as 'utilization', 'maximun', and 'significantly', but these attempts are marred by frequent spelling and word-choice errors, including 'maximun', 'lesiure', 'iteams', 'icome', and 'salaries' used in place of 'earnings' or 'spending'. There is also a reliance on repetitive phrasing and basic terms. While communication is not severely impeded, the accumulation of lexical inaccuracies limits the score to a Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'The given bar graph illustrates...' and 'As compared to 1968, in 2018 more salaries were utilized...'. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors in subject-verb agreement and prepositions, such as 'where more money were used', 'food iteams... was', 'pay goes in', and 'throughout years'. Punctuation errors also occur, such as spacing issues ('i n'). While some sentences are grammatically correct and meaning is generally clear, the high frequency of basic structural and agreement errors prevents the response from reaching a higher band, making a Band 5.0 appropriate.

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

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