Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

The given bar chart illustrates weekly spending of families on different household categories across two years 1968 and 2018 in one country.

Overall, people spent their most of the money for food and which declined lately with time. Whereas lowest for the Fuel and power. Only spending for the Household goods remained unchanged. Expenses on the Housing Transport and Leisure inclined over time.

FIrstly, the highest shares of spending accounted for the Food with 30% in 1968, In contrast lowest for the Fuel and power with just about 7% and 3% respectively. Where Household goods remain unchanged with approximetly 7% weekly.

Secondly, people spending on Clothing and footware, Personal goods and Ho fell in given period of time while Leisure and Transport rose dramatically .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The student attempts to address the task by comparing weekly spending in 1968 and 2018, noting major categories like food, fuel and power, and household goods. An overview is provided, highlighting general trends such as the decline in food spending and the increase in transport and leisure. However, some data points are inaccurate or poorly expressed, and the report remains incomplete in covering all categories thoroughly. Crucially, the response falls significantly short of the word count requirement, containing only 125 words against the mandatory 150-word minimum. This negative impact on task completion pulls down the overall score for this criterion to Band 5.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The text is organized into distinct paragraphs, attempting an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs. However, logical progression is frequently disrupted by awkward phrasing and abrupt transitions, such as 'FIrstly,' and 'Secondly,'. Cohesive devices are mechanically applied and sometimes grammatically flawed, as seen in phrases like 'people spent their most of the money for food and which declined lately with time.' Paragraphing is initiated, but the internal structure of the paragraphs lacks smooth flow and clear referencing, resulting in a somewhat disjointed reading experience. This places the response firmly at Band 5.0 for coherence and cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is relatively basic and repetitive, with frequent lexical and collocational errors throughout the text. Examples include 'people spent their most of the money for food', 'Clothing and footware', and 'Ho fell in given period of time' (an incomplete word). While the student attempts some less common terms like 'approximetly' (which also contains a spelling error) and 'dramatically', the range is limited and inaccuracies are noticeable. Word choices such as 'inclined' and 'declined' are sometimes awkwardly paired with prepositions. Because these errors and the limited vocabulary range cause some difficulty for the reader, a score of Band 5.0 is appropriate.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but control over grammar is weak. There are numerous grammatical errors, including missing articles, incorrect prepositions, and faulty relative clauses, such as 'people spent their most of the money for food and which declined lately with time' and 'lowest for the Fuel and power with just about 7% and 3% respectively.' Punctuation and capitalization are also inconsistent, as seen in 'FIrstly,'. While the core message can generally be discerned, the frequency of errors is high enough to cause difficulty and prevents the writing from achieving a higher band. Therefore, a score of Band 5.0 is assigned.

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

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