Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-17

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 bar chart illustrates how families in one country spent their weekly income in 1968 and 2018.

Overall, food expenditure was the largest share of weekly income in 1968, while it came second in 2018. the fuel and power have the lowest share in both year. Although leisure and housing consumption had the highest percentage in 2018.

Food used the maximum share of salary in 1968, which was 35%, while this share came to half 17% , in 2018. Meanwhile, the second-highest share was spent on housing which was 10% in 1968 but it increase to 9% in 2018.

In contrast, the lowest share was consumed fuel and power in both year which were

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response attempts to summarize the main features of the chart, providing a general overview and citing some specific data points such as food expenditure dropping from 35% to 17%. However, the text is incomplete and ends abruptly mid-sentence, which severely impacts task completion. Additionally, there are factual inaccuracies in the reporting of the data; for instance, the writer claims housing increased to 9% in 2018 when the chart shows it rose to 19%, and the statement about leisure and housing having the highest percentage contains contradictory elements. Due to the under-length nature of the essay and incomplete development, it falls short of higher band descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay begins with a standard introductory sentence and an overall summary attempt. However, the organization breaks down quickly due to the unfinished writing and poor paragraph structure. While some basic cohesive devices like 'Meanwhile' and 'In contrast' are used, referencing is sometimes confusing, and the progression of ideas is hindered by abrupt discontinuation. Paragraphing is not fully controlled, as the text trails off without a proper conclusion or fully formed body paragraphs.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary for discussing statistical data, using terms like 'expenditure', 'share', 'percentage', and 'highest share'. There are occasional awkward collocations and word choices, such as 'consumed fuel and power' instead of 'spent on fuel and power'. Some words are misspelled or improperly used, such as 'footware' (though not present here, similar errors occur) and grammatical confusion with word forms (e.g., 'increase' instead of 'increased'). The range is somewhat limited and repetitive, which is partly a consequence of the short length.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as concessive clauses using 'Although' and relative clauses with 'which was 35%'. However, there are notable grammatical errors and awkward phrasing throughout, including subject-verb agreement issues like 'the fuel and power have' and tense inconsistencies ('it increase to 9%'). The response also contains punctuation errors (missing capitalization at the start of a sentence) and an incomplete final sentence that leaves the grammar unresolved. The range of structures is limited by the text's brevity.

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

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