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 proportion of average weekly spending by families in one country over a period of 50 years.

Overall, the graph showed a general upward trend between a period of 1968 and 2018.The amount for money spent on food was accounted to around 35%. Moreever, the lowest amount spent on fuel and power category.

In 1968, the figures for food expenditure remained high to around 35%, and after that, fell considerably to 18% by 2018.

In 1968, the amount for housing, transport and liesure showed the similar trend. The average monthly expenditure of these three categories were10% 8% and 7% respectively, While the amount of spending increased in 2018.

Housing ,clothing and footware andpersonal goods followed the reversed trend of decreasing in 2018 to around 7%,5% and 4% apiece.

Futhermore, the figures of money spending in a week for personal good was remained stable for the both years.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response attempts to address the task by comparing weekly spending in 1968 and 2018, but it only partially covers the information provided in the chart. While the introduction outlines the topic, the overview ('the graph showed a general upward trend') is inaccurate, as spending across various categories actually increased or decreased rather than following a single universal upward trend. Furthermore, some of the data reported contains inaccuracies or contradictions with the source material, such as stating that spending on personal goods remained stable while simultaneously claiming it decreased to 4% in 2018. The selection of features is limited, and several ideas are under-developed or unclear, leaving the reader with a partial picture of the main trends.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

There is some organisation in the response, with an introduction and body paragraphs attempting to group data by categories and years. However, there is a lack of clear overall progression, and the logical development of ideas is hindered by abrupt shifts and contradictory statements, such as the confusion regarding personal goods. Cohesive devices are sometimes inaccurate or awkward, as seen with transitional phrases like 'Moreever' and 'Futhermore', and referencing between sentences is occasionally unclear. Paragraphing is attempted, but the internal structure of the paragraphs does not consistently guide the reader smoothly through comparisons.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate for the task, allowing the student to communicate basic data points such as 'proportion', 'expenditure', and percentages. However, there are noticeable errors in word choice, collocation, and word forms, such as 'liesure' instead of leisure, 'footware' instead of footwear, and awkward phrasing like 'accounted to' and 'followed the reversed trend'. Spelling mistakes like 'Moreever' and 'Futhermore' also occur. These lexical inaccuracies and limitations restrict the precision of the response and can cause some difficulty or hesitation for the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response displays a limited range of sentence structures, with frequent errors that can cause difficulty for the reader. While there are some attempts at complex sentences, they are often faulty, such as in the clause 'The average monthly expenditure of these three categories were10% 8% and 7% respectively, While the amount of spending increased in 2018.' Subject-verb agreement errors are present, for example, 'the figures... was remained stable', alongside persistent punctuation and spacing issues ('2018.The', 'were10% 8% and 'goods andpersonal'). These frequent grammatical and structural inaccuracies prevent the response from achieving a higher band.

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