Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-26

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 4.5)

The chart illustrates the average weekly spending and income by families in 1968 and 2018.

Overall, In 1968, For food there was largest expenses while, fuel and power has small expenses. In 208, porsanal goods were less expenses However, leisure was largest expenses.

In 1968, housing and clothing and footwear were only 10% expenses. Similary, household goods and personal goods were 8%. expenses fom weekly income. At last, leisure was 9% expenses while transport has slightly less.

In 2018, Transport were 14% expenses from income. fuel and power and Household goods, fuel and power were 7% and 4%. expenses from income. Housing has 19% while food has 16%. expenses of week. At last, for clothing and footware were 5%. expenses from income

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

The response fails to meet the minimum length requirement of 150 words, containing only 122 words, which directly impacts the completeness of the task. While the student attempts to report some main features and make comparisons, such as noting that food was the highest expense in 1968 and leisure in 2018, the coverage is limited and disjointed. Furthermore, there are several inaccuracies in data reporting; for example, the student states that housing and clothing/footwear were 10% in 1968 (which is correct for clothing and footwear, but housing was also 10% yet described confusingly), and misreads the 2018 figures for food (stating 16% instead of approximately 17%). The overview is overly simplistic and poorly structured, lacking a cohesive summary of the most striking trends across the two years.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

The organizational structure of the response is weak. Although the student uses chronological sequencing markers like 'In 1968' and 'In 2018', the overall progression lacks logical flow and coherence. Paragraphing is attempted, but the paragraphs are fragmented, extremely short, and packed with disjointed single-sentence observations. Cohesive devices are used mechanically and often incorrectly (e.g., 'At last' used instead of a transitional phrase for final points, and 'Similary' with a spelling error). Additionally, referencing is frequently unclear, making it difficult to follow which category or year is being discussed, which hinders the readability of the response.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

The vocabulary used is very basic and repetitive, heavily relying on simple terms such as 'expenses', 'largest', and 'less'. There are noticeable spelling errors (e.g., 'porsanal', 'Similary', 'footware') and awkward collocations (e.g., 'fuel and power has small expenses'). The student makes little attempt to use less common vocabulary or paraphrase the prompt effectively, repeating phrases like 'expenses from income' numerous times. The lexical range is barely adequate for the task, resulting in vocabulary limitations that restrict precision and fluency.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.0

The grammatical range is extremely limited, consisting almost entirely of simple sentences with frequent structural errors. There are multiple issues with subject-verb agreement and tense consistency (e.g., 'fuel and power has small expenses', 'Transport were 14%', 'leisure was largest expenses'). Punctuation is also problematic, with random capitalization and misplaced periods occurring throughout the text (e.g., 'Overall, In 1968, For food...'). Complex sentence structures are virtually absent, and the frequency of grammatical errors causes noticeable difficulty and confusion for the reader.

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