Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-29

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 the information how families manage their seven days income from 1968 to 2018.

Overall, the chart shows expences of families in different activities like food, housing, fuel and power, clothing and footware, household goods, personal goods, Transport and leisure. Activities are showing on x-axes and weekly percentages shown in Y-axis .

The highest percentage of food expences recorded in 1968 that was 35% and the fuel and power was lowest recorded in 1968 that was in between 5 to 10%.

While in 2018 the highest expences is Leisure of families was recorded as in between 20 to 25% and the less percentage is fuel and power and personal goods was in between 1 to 5%.

Conclusion is that the families expenses in Housing 10% , Clothing and foot ware also 10% and in Personal goods and transport were same that was recorded as 5 to 10% in 1968 . As compared to 2018 that was housing expences in between 15 to 20% and major expense was Liesure.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The student attempts to address the prompt by reporting figures from the chart, such as the highest and lowest spending categories in 1968 and 2018 (e.g., food at 35% in 1968 and leisure at 22% in 2018). However, the response lacks a clear and coherent overview of the main trends. Furthermore, there are several inaccurate data readings and confusing descriptions, such as stating that fuel and power in 1968 was 'in between 5 to 10%' when the chart shows it at approximately 6%, and misinterpreting data points in the final paragraph. Because the key features are not fully or accurately developed, the response meets the criteria for Band 5.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response is divided into brief paragraphs, but the logical progression is weak. The introduction is poorly structured ('illustrates the information how families manage...'), and the conclusion reads more like a jumble of remaining random data points rather than a summary. Cohesive devices are either missing or misused, and referencing is unclear in places, such as dangling phrases like 'As compared to 2018 that was housing expences...'. Paragraphing is attempted but individual paragraphs do not maintain a clear central topic, leading to a disjointed reading experience. This aligns with Band 5 descriptors.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is quite basic and repetitive, relying heavily on words like 'expences' (misspelled multiple times as 'expences' instead of expenses), 'percentage', and 'recorded'. There are noticeable spelling errors ('footware' instead of footwear, 'Liesure' instead of leisure) and awkward collocations. While the student attempts to name various spending categories from the chart, the limited control over word formation and spelling restricts the score to a Band 5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.0

The student uses a very limited range of sentence structures, and attempts at more complex formations result in severe grammatical errors and ungrammatical fragments (e.g., 'Activities are showing on x-axes and weekly percentages shown in Y-axis' and 'Conclusion is that the families expenses in Housing 10%...'). Frequent errors in verb forms, prepositions, and article usage cause considerable strain for the reader. There are very few error-free sentences, placing this performance firmly in Band 4.

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

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