Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

The chart illustrates the proportion of information about how families in one country spent their weekly income from the decade of 1968 and in 2018.

Overall, the spending in food items remains highest contains 35% by 1968, and almost 17% by 2018. Wheras spendings in fuel and power dropped by approximately 6% in 1968, and 4% in 2018.

Initially, spending on food became most prominent in year 1968. In addition, the housing, and clothing footwear remains constant almost of 10% of income spendings. Furthermore, transport has 7% of their spendings, and 8% in leisure. Moreover personal goods, and household ggods remains same at 7%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

The response attempts to cover the main features of the chart, noting that food spending was the highest in both years (35% in 1968 and 17% in 2018) and mentioning fuel and power, housing, and leisure. However, the response fails to meet the minimum length requirement of 150 words, stopping at only 104 words. Furthermore, there are several inaccurate data points reported, such as stating that clothing and footwear remained constant at almost 10% (when it dropped to 5% in 2018) and misreporting the figures for transport and personal goods. Due to the under-length penalty and incomplete coverage of the data, this falls into Band 4.5.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The essay attempts an overall introduction and body paragraphs, but the logical progression is weak and confused by phrasing errors. While some basic cohesive devices are attempted, referencing is often unclear (e.g., 'spending in food items remains highest contains 35%'). Paragraphing is present, but the structural flow feels fragmented rather than cohesive. Information is not arranged in a clearly progressive manner, limiting the score to Band 5.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

The vocabulary is very limited and repetitive, with noticeable errors such as 'spendings', 'ggods', and awkward phrasing like 'remains highest contains 35%'. While the student attempts topic-related words like 'proportion', 'income', and 'leisure', word choice and collocation are frequently inaccurate. Spelling errors ('Wheras', 'ggods') also appear. This corresponds to Band 4.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but frequent grammatical errors impede clarity. Examples include 'spending in fuel and power dropped by approximately 6% in 1968, and 4% in 2018' (which misstates how the data is read) and incorrect verb tenses/agreements such as 'clothing footwear remains constant'. Punctuation is generally basic. Because errors are frequent and occasionally cause confusion, a band score of 5.0 is appropriate.

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

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