Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · 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 4.0)

this chart discribe's about the comparision of families in one country spent their weekly income from 1968 to 2018, compariosn is done by considering different aspects such as food, housing,fuel and power, clothing and footware, household goods, personal goods, transport,and leisure ect. in year in 1968 food expenses where more compare to other aspects, later it experienced fluctuation in the percentage throughout the years.whereas the highest percentage for 2018 was for the housing and lowest was for personal goods, it aslo experienced drastic change in the percentage throughout the year.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0

The response fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 150 words, coming in at only 90 words. Consequently, the development of ideas is severely restricted. While the student attempts to summarise the chart by mentioning categories such as 'food', 'housing', and 'personal goods', the reporting of data is inaccurate and confusing. For instance, the student claims that food expenses experienced 'fluctuation in the percentage throughout the years' when the chart shows a clear, significant drop from 35% in 1968 to 17% in 2018. Furthermore, the statement that housing 'experienced drastic change in the percentage throughout the year' is vague and fails to report specific comparative figures. Due to the severe under-length and lack of a coherent overview with accurate data reporting, this falls under Band 4.0 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0

The response consists of a single, run-on paragraph, which lacks appropriate paragraphing and basic structural organisation. Cohesive devices are weak or misused; the writer relies heavily on comma splices and repetitive transitional phrasing such as 'throughout the year' and 'throughout the years'. There is no clear logical progression or overview separating the main trends. Referencing is also somewhat confusing, as seen in the phrase 'it aslo experienced drastic change'. Because information and ideas are not arranged coherently and paragraphing is absent, the response aligns with Band 4.0 for coherence and cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.0

The lexical range is basic and repetitive, heavily relying on the vocabulary directly provided in the prompt (e.g., 'families', 'weekly income', 'food', 'housing', 'transport'). There are several noticeable spelling errors and lexical inaccuracies, such as 'discribe's', 'comparision' (repeated as 'compariosn'), 'footware' (instead of footwear), 'aslo', and the informal abbreviation 'ect.' Word choice lacks precision, and the student struggles to express comparative concepts accurately. This vocabulary performance is indicative of a Band 4.0 level, where errors frequently strain the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

The writing is characterised by a very limited range of grammatical structures, consisting almost entirely of poorly punctuated run-on sentences joined by commas rather than proper conjunctions or full stops. There are frequent grammatical and punctuation errors, including capitalization errors (starting sentences with lowercase letters like 'this' and 'whereas'), subject-verb agreement issues (e.g., 'food expenses where more'), and incorrect verb forms ('discribe's about'). Complex structures are absent, and basic sentence boundaries are frequently blurred, causing difficulty for the reader and restricting the score to Band 4.0.

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

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