Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-20

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 data recorded in year 1968 and 2018 about the percentage of amount spent on eight categories by different families in a week.

Over all, the highest percentage was spent on food 35 % in year 1968 and well above 20 % on leisure in 2018. Meanwhile they spent least on Fuel and power more around 5 % in 1968 and well under 5 % in 2018 along with personal goods.

In 1968, both categories housing and clothing and footware expense were 10 % of the weekly earning follwed by the leisure around 9 %. Whereas, the expenditure on household and personal goods and transport were same about 8 % of total income. In contrast, in 2018 the percentage of expenses were different. Well under 20 % of money is consumed by housing followed by transport just under 15 %. Families spent around 8 % on household goods and 5 % on clothing and footware respectively.

In conclusion, the less amount of money is spent in 2018 in comparison to 1968. However, in both years people have different priorities for spending money.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student covers the main features of the chart, successfully identifying key trends such as the drop in food spending from 35% in 1968 to 17% in 2018, and the rise in leisure to 22%. An overview is attempted in the second paragraph, outlining the highest and lowest spending categories across both years. However, there are minor inaccuracies in reporting specific figures; for instance, the text states leisure was 'well above 20%' in 2018 (the actual value is 22%, which is acceptable, but fuel and power are misreported as 'more around 5%' in 1968 when the chart shows 6%). Comparisons are made, but the conclusion contains a factual error regarding overall spending ('the less amount of money is spent in 2018'), as the chart only measures percentages of income, not monetary amounts. This places the response firmly at Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is logically organised into four distinct paragraphs: an introduction, an overview, a body paragraph detailing the years, and a brief conclusion. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Meanwhile', 'In 1968', 'Whereas', and 'In contrast', which help guide the reader through the data. However, referencing is occasionally imprecise or clunky, as seen in 'Meanwhile they spent least on Fuel and power...' where the antecedent of 'they' is slightly ambiguous ('different families'). Paragraphing is sufficient and appropriate for an Academic Task 1 response, but the overall progression could be smoother and more tightly integrated. Overall, the response meets the criteria for Band 6.0 in this area.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms like 'percentage', 'categories', 'expenditure', and 'income'. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary ('consumed', 'priorities'), but these are sometimes accompanied by inaccuracies or awkward collocations, such as 'the less amount of money' (instead of 'a smaller proportion') and spelling errors like 'follwed' and 'footware' (though 'footware' is likely a typo for footwear). Word choice is generally sufficient to convey meaning, but lack of precision and repetition of phrases like 'percentage of expenses' place this at a Band 6.0 level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as 'The chart illustrates the data recorded...' and 'In contrast, in 2018 the percentage of expenses were different.' There are several noticeable grammatical errors and awkward phrasings, including subject-verb agreement issues ('the percentage of expenses were different') and article usage ('the less amount of money'). Punctuation is generally acceptable, and while these errors do occasionally distract the reader, they rarely impede overall communication. The range of structures is somewhat limited, supporting a Band 6.0 score.

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