Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-02

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 the percentage of weekly income how a families spending in a country between 1908 and 2018.

Overall, in food spend a large expensive in 1968, leisure was spend incone more in 2018.spending on food,fuel and power,clothing and footware,and personal goods decreased over a period while Housing,tansport and leisure was increased significantly.

According to the bar graph in 1968,spending in food was highest in 1968, which consumed a 35%.Similarly,the second largest spending on clothing and footware at 10%.Moreover,fuel and power spend at 7% and spending on clothing and footware spent 10%.Spending a 8%in personal goods.

According to the bar graph,food was the highly spending in 1968 which was fell in 2018 at 17%.Spending on housing at18%.spending on household goods had unchange percentage since from 1968.moreover,spending on transport has increased signifiacantly in percentage,which was 7%in 1968 then rosedat 18% in 2018.Spending incone on leisure was boots significantly compared with 1968 which was at 9% abd at 23% in 2018.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response attempts to address the prompt by comparing spending across the two years, providing an overview of overall trends and highlighting key data points like food and leisure. However, the task is only partially addressed because some data points are inaccurate or inadequately supported—for instance, the dates are misread as 1908 instead of 1968, and several percentages are incorrectly stated or repeated multiple times with conflicting numbers. Additionally, the overview is somewhat limited and lacks precision in selecting and reporting the most striking features, resulting in under-developed ideas regarding the broader comparisons.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The text demonstrates some general organization with an introduction, a rudimentary overview paragraph, and body paragraphs attempting to separate the years. However, there is no clear overall progression, and the logical flow is frequently disrupted by repetitive reporting and clumsy transitions. Paragraphing is attempted, but the internal structure of the paragraphs lacks coherence. Furthermore, cohesive devices are inadequate and repetitive, heavily relying on formulaic phrases like 'According to the bar graph' which impedes the natural flow of information throughout the response.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited and repetitive, reflecting a basic range adequate only for the simplest communication. There are noticeable lexical errors in word choice, word formation, and spelling that occasionally cause difficulty for the reader, such as 'footware', 'incone', 'tansport', and 'signifiacantly'. The student attempts less common items like 'consumed' or 'significantly', but these are marred by imprecise usage, awkward collocations, and frequent inaccuracies that prevent the response from achieving a higher level of lexical control.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

Grammatical control is weak, featuring a very limited range of structures and frequent errors. Simple sentences are poorly constructed, and attempts at complex or comparative structures are almost always faulty, as seen in awkward phrasing like 'the percentage of weekly income how a families spending' and 'food was the highly spending'. There are frequent errors in verb tenses, subject-verb agreement, prepositions, and word order, such as 'which was fell', 'unchange percentage', and 'rosedat', which cause considerable difficulty for the reader and distort meaning at times.

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