Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-22

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 icome in during two sperate years.

Overall, income spend on food is the highest in 1968,while lesiure was the highest in 2018. Money spend on other items was the lowest.

According to the chart, in 1968 income spend on food stood at 35%, housing and aboutclothing and footwear was same, at 10%. Fuel and power spend about 6%, while household goods, personal goods and transport were also same, at 7% with slightly increase in lesiure about 8%.

In 2018, highest income spend by leasiure in all the items. Housing was the second highest, at 29%, there was a significant decrease in transport, at 14%. Fuel and power and personal goods had the percentage of income spend, at 4%. Income spend on clothing and footwear was 5%, while income spend on household goods was 8%, which is same as the icome spend on househld goods in 1968.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response attempts to cover the main features of the chart, noting that food spending was highest in 1968 and leisure in 2018. However, there are significant inaccuracies in data reporting. For instance, the student states that housing and clothing were 'same, at 10%' in 1968 (housing was actually 10%, but clothing was also 10% which is correct, yet transport, household goods, and personal goods were 8% rather than 7%). Furthermore, in 2018, housing is incorrectly reported as 29% (it is approximately 19%). The overview is also extremely brief and misses a holistic summary of the major shifts, such as the dramatic decrease in spending on food. These issues place the response at Band 5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The response has a basic structure with an introduction and separate body paragraphs for the two years. However, progression is hindered by repetitive phrasing ('income spend on') and faulty cohesive devices. Paragraphing is attempted, but the grouping of data lacks logical flow within the paragraphs. Referencing is sometimes unclear, for example, transitioning abruptly between data points without clear markers. While there is a discernible overall arrangement, the frequent mechanical use of cohesive devices and lack of smooth transitions mean it meets the criteria for Band 5.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive, heavily relying on terms directly from the prompt such as 'income', 'spend', and 'chart'. There are multiple lexical errors and non-standard collocations, such as 'icome' (spelling error), 'spend' used instead of 'spent' ('income spend on'), and 'leasiure' / 'lesiure'. Attempts to use less common vocabulary are limited and generally inaccurate, such as 'sperate years' instead of 'separate years'. This lexical range and accuracy are characteristic of Band 5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response displays a very limited range of sentence structures. Most sentences are simple or attempt complex forms that result in frequent grammatical errors, such as 'Money spend on other items was the lowest' and 'Fuel and power spend about 6%'. Subject-verb agreement and tense usage are inconsistent (e.g., mixing past data descriptions with present tense verbs like 'is the highest' and 'was same'). Punctuation is basic and sometimes faulty (comma splices). These frequent errors cause some difficulty for the reader, placing the grammar at Band 5.

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

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