Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

The bar chart illustrates, the average expenditure of a families from their income of a particular nation over the period 1968 to 2018.

The expenditure of family in food and housing were the highest compares to other while the expenses on fuel and power were the lowest among all. The trend line of leisure and housing showed a noticable change.

The expense of food of a family were the highest which was about 35% in 1968 but it fell rapidly  by 17% in 2018, the trend of expenditure on housing showed an upward growth, in 1968 it was around 10% which climbed by 18% in the following year 2018.The family which spent on fuel and power was less, about 7% which decreased slightly by 3%, and the family spent on clothing and footware has similar trend to the fuel and power.

The average family spent on houshold good remained stable over two periods which accounted by 8%, the people expenditure on personal goods declined over the times, 8% to 4% in 1968 and 2018 respectively. However the expense of a family towards transport increased. The family spent on leisure showed sinificant change over two periods, in 1968 it was around 8% which increased drastically by 23% in 2018.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student covers all parts of the task by reporting on the main features of the bar chart comparing 1968 and 2018. An overview is attempted in the second paragraph, though it is slightly fragmented. Key data points are generally reported accurately, such as food starting at 35% and dropping to 17%, and leisure increasing from around 8% to 22%. However, there are some inaccuracies in reporting the extent of changes (e.g., stating housing climbed 'by 18%' rather than 'to 19%', or fuel and power decreased 'by 3%' when the chart shows a drop from 6% to 4%). Despite these minor data-reading issues, the main trends are adequately identified, placing the response solidly in Band 6.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement and is divided into logical paragraphs separating the introduction, overview, and specific details. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'However' and 'respectively', though some linking is mechanical or inaccurate (e.g., 'The expenditure of family in food and housing were the highest compares to other while the expenses on fuel and power were the lowest among all'). Paragraphing is used sufficiently to structure the ideas, and referencing is mostly clear, though some sentence boundaries and transitions could be smoother to achieve a higher band.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common items such as 'expenditure', 'fluctuated' (implied through trends), and 'drastically'. However, there are numerous lexical and collocation errors, such as 'footware' (spelling), 'houshold good', and awkward phrasing like 'the people expenditure on personal goods'. Word choice is sometimes imprecise, such as confusing 'by' and 'to' when describing numerical changes. These errors do not impede communication, but they prevent the score from reaching Band 7.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as relative clauses and comparative structures. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors in subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'the average expenditure of a families', 'The expense of food of a family were the highest'), prepositions, and tense consistency. Punctuation errors are also present, such as missing commas and run-on phrasing. While meaning is generally clear despite these errors, the high frequency of basic grammatical slips keeps this criterion at Band 5.0.

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

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