Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-24
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 compares information about how families in one nation spent their weekly salary in 1968 and in 2018.
Overall, it can be seen that people are spend more money on food and leisure activity, while they spend lowest amount of income on fuel and power.
In detail, food and leisure activity were at the top for salary spending, which were decreased from 35% to 17% in 1968 and 2018 respectively, while the trend of leisure activity was totally reversed from the food trend, which was stood at 7% and jumped at 22% in 2018. Between 1968 and 2018, housing and transport spending had a same trend, whic was upward, marked at 10% to 18% and 7% to 23% with respect to year. Clothing and footware and personal growth nearly had same spending, which is variable between 5% to 10% in both the year. Ultimately, household had the same proprtion of expenditure in both year.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0
The student attempts to cover the main features of the chart, providing an overview and mentioning several categories such as food, leisure, housing, and transport. However, there are significant factual inaccuracies in reporting the data compared to the visual source. For instance, the student states that food and leisure activity 'were decreased from 35% to 17% in 1968 and 2018 respectively', which conflates two separate categories. Furthermore, the description of leisure activity says it 'stood at 7% and jumped at 22%', whereas the actual chart shows leisure at 9% in 1968 and 22% in 2018. The overview also contains a contradiction, claiming people spend more on food while simultaneously stating they spend the lowest amount on food/fuel. Due to these misreadings and inaccuracies in data reporting, the task is only partially successful.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0
The response is organized into four paragraphs, including a brief introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs. There is an attempt to use cohesive devices and transition signals such as 'Overall', 'In detail', and 'while'. However, progression is frequently hindered by awkward phrasing and mechanical cohesion, such as 'which were decreased from 35% to 17% in 1968 and 2018 respectively' and referencing errors like 'had a same trend, whic was upward'. Paragraphing is present, but the internal logical flow of the body paragraph is muddled by dense, confusing sentences that group disparate information together without clear demarcation.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range to communicate basic concepts related to the task, using terms such as 'weekly salary', 'proportion of expenditure', and 'trend'. However, there are numerous lexical errors, awkward word choices, and typos throughout the text. Examples include 'people are spend more money', 'lowest amount of income' (instead of lowest proportion), 'Clothing and footware' (spelling error), 'personal growth' (incorrect term for personal goods), and 'proprtion' (spelling error). These errors do not completely prevent understanding, but they restrict the response to a band 5 level due to noticeable inaccuracies.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, using relative clauses and comparative structures (e.g., 'The bar chart compares information about how families...'). However, grammatical control is weak throughout. There are frequent basic errors, including tense and verb-form confusions ('people are spend', 'were decreased'), preposition misuse ('spend lowest amount of income on'), and typographical errors ('whic was'). Complex structures are often faulty and lack precision. While meaning can generally be inferred, the high frequency of grammatical slips detracts from the overall readability and places the writing firmly at band 5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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