Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-03

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 provided bar chart illustrates how one country families spent their weekly income from 1968 to 2018

Overall, it is clear that the number of families weekly income are reduced in rised

over the period additionally the leisure is increased whereas the food had the lowest is compared 2018 to 1968

locking at the bar chart the food trend had increased 35%in the year of 1968 while the housing weekly income 19% increased in 2018 similarly the transport increased 14 % in 2018 the household goods are reamines constant where is the

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

The response only minimally addresses the task. First, it fails to meet the minimum length requirement of 150 words, stopping abruptly at just 92 words. While the writer attempts to provide an overview and mentions a few data points from the chart such as the 35 percent for food in 1968 and 19 percent for housing in 2018, the selection of information is very limited and incomplete. Furthermore, the overview sentence is confusing and fails to accurately capture the main trends of the visual data. To reach higher bands, the writer must ensure the response is sufficiently long, present a clear and accurate overview of the main trends without getting bogged down in disjointed fragments, and fully report key comparisons across both years.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

Information and ideas are not arranged coherently in this response. The text lacks proper paragraphing, consisting merely of a few broken sentences thrown together without a logical flow. While transitional attempts are made with words like 'Overall' and 'additionally', the overall organization is extremely disjointed. The sentences fail to connect smoothly, and the response cuts off mid-sentence at the end ('where is the'), demonstrating a complete breakdown in structural progression. To improve coherence, the writer needs to structure the essay into clear paragraphs—an introduction with an overview, followed by well-organized body paragraphs—and use cohesive devices accurately to guide the reader logically through the comparisons.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited and basic, resulting in noticeable errors that occasionally strain the reader's understanding. The student relies heavily on simple terms and repeats basic verbs like 'increased'. There are also lexical and collocation errors, such as 'number of families weekly income are reduced in rised' and 'the food had the lowest is compared 2018 to 1968', where word choices and word forms are used incorrectly. To achieve a higher score, the writer must expand their lexical range beyond basic descriptors, incorporate less common vocabulary related to data trends, and ensure correct word formation and appropriate collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The grammatical range is very limited, consisting mostly of poorly constructed, faulty sentences with frequent errors that cause significant difficulty for the reader. There are severe issues with subject-verb agreement, tense usage, and basic sentence architecture, as seen in 'the number of families weekly income are reduced in rised' and 'the housing weekly income 19 percent increased'. Punctuation is also largely neglected, with the entire response lacking proper terminal punctuation and capitalisation. To improve in this area, the writer needs to practice basic sentence structures, ensure accurate verb tenses for describing statistical data over time, and apply correct punctuation and grammatical agreements consistently.

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