Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-19

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 chart illustrates the information on how families allocate their weekly spendings in one country in 1968 and 2018.

Overall, food accounted for the largest proportion of spending in 1968.In 2018, familiy spending on leisure activities were the highest, whereas fuel and power was the lowest in both years.

In 1968, food accounted for 35% of weekly income, whereas housing as well as clothing and footware were at 10%, closely followed by leisure at just 9%. Household goods, personal goods and transport comprised to 8% respectively. fuel and power was the least spendings made by familes, at just 6%.

In contrast, in 2018, the proportion of spending on leisure activities rose markedly from 9% to just above 20%. Housing was the next common stood at just 19%. Personal goods and fuel declined steadily and recorded the lowest just below 5%

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response attempts to cover the main features of the chart, noting that food was the highest in 1968 and leisure in 2018. However, there are some inaccuracies in data reporting; for example, the text states 'fuel and power was the lowest in both years' (which is incorrect for 1968, as personal goods, household goods, and transport were also at 8% while fuel was 6%, but 1968 food was 35%, and housing was 10%). Crucially, the response falls short of the minimum length requirement, containing 140 words instead of the required 150 words. This under-length impacts the overall development and completeness of the task, limiting the score to Band 5.5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is organized into paragraphs, starting with an introduction, an overall overview, and subsequent body paragraphs detailing the years 1968 and 2018. Cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'In 1968', and 'In contrast' are used to structure the text. However, paragraphing is somewhat disjointed (the overview contains a stray sentence, and the text lacks a smooth flow). Referencing and logical progression are occasionally faulty, such as the abrupt ending of the final paragraph ('lowest just below 5%'). Overall arrangement is coherent enough to follow, matching Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, such as 'proportion', 'allocate', 'markedly', and 'rise'. However, there are several word choice and spelling errors, such as 'spendings' (spending is generally uncountable here), 'familiy' (family), 'footware' (footwear), and awkward phrasing like 'Housing was the next common stood at just 19%'. Less common vocabulary is attempted with some inaccuracy. These errors do not completely impede communication, placing the lexical range at Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

A mix of simple and complex sentence forms is attempted, such as 'while housing as well as clothing and footware were at 10%, closely followed by leisure at just 9%.' However, there are notable grammatical errors and missing punctuation/words, such as 'familiy spending on leisure activities were' (subject-verb agreement error), missing prepositions, and incomplete clauses (e.g., 'comprised to 8% respectively'). Punctuation is occasionally missing (e.g., missing full stop after 1968 in '1968.In'). The frequency of errors places this component at Band 5.5.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.