Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

The bar chart illustrates the average weekly spendiny by families of a country from their income in 1968 and in 2018.

Overall, families in both years spent a significant amount of their income on food, housing and leisure activities leaving the other sectors in least spent areas.

In 1968, families spent the most amount of their income on hosing which accounts for 35 percent. Housing, clothing and footware were on 2nd number sharing average spending of 10 percent. They spent around 9 percent of their income on leisure activities. Furthermore, they spent approximately 8 percent on transport, personal and house hold goods. They spent least on fuel and power.

In 2018, people spent the most amount on leisure activities and housing, consitituting for approximately 22 and 18 percent. House spendings downgraded to number three followed by transport on number four with a pecentage around 17 and 14. Least amount was spent on other four areas leaving them under 10 percent.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response addresses the task only partially, reflecting a number of inaccuracies and mechanical reporting of data. For instance, the student states that families spent 35 percent of their income on housing in 1968, whereas the chart clearly shows food was the highest at 35 percent and housing was only 10 percent. Similarly, the summary of 2018 contains confused figures and comparisons, such as claiming leisure and housing constituted 22 and 18 percent respectively, but then misinterpreting the remaining rankings. While an overview is attempted, it contains factual contradictions with the source chart. To reach a higher level, the response must accurately report the key features and present a clearer, factually correct overview of the main trends.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a clear paragraph structure separating the introduction, overview, and body paragraphs for each year. Information is generally grouped by time period, making the text easy to follow at a glance. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or imprecise, relying on basic sequencing phrases like 'In 1968' and 'In 2018' without smoother transitions between sentences. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the pronoun use in 'They spent around 9 percent', where the exact referent is slightly ambiguous. To improve further, the writer should employ a wider range of cohesive devices and ensure seamless logical progression between sentences and ideas.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is limited and barely adequate for the task, with noticeable errors in word choice and spelling that affect precision. For example, there are spelling mistakes such as 'spendiny' for spending, 'hosing' for housing, and 'consitituting' for constituting. In addition, awkward lexical choices occur, such as 'House spendings downgraded to number three' and 'least spent areas'. Although the writer attempts some less common terms related to statistical reporting, the frequency of lexical slips and non-standard collocations restricts the score. To progress, the student needs to expand their range of vocabulary for describing charts and eliminate basic spelling and word-choice errors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response employs a limited range of structures, mostly relying on simple and straightforward complex sentences to report data. Attempts at more complex structures often result in grammatical errors, such as awkward phrasing in 'leaving the other sectors in least spent areas' and 'leaving them under 10 percent'. There are also frequent issues with prepositions, articles, and number agreement. While these errors rarely completely impede communication, they occur regularly throughout the text and cause some difficulty for the reader. To achieve a higher band, the writer must demonstrate greater control over complex sentence patterns and improve grammatical accuracy across verb forms and prepositional phrases.

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

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