Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-06

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 related to families in one country how they could spend their weekly expenditure between 1968 and 2018.

Overall , it is clear that expenditure on food is one of highest in 2018. as compare to other households or different expenditure .although least expenditure on fuel and personal goods .

In 1968 income spend on leisure substantially increased approximately about 24%. in contrast money spend on food roughly about 18% . meanwhile income spend on housing 2nd largest expenditure roughly about 18%. in same scenario if we talk about transport money spend on it roughly 14% . while clothing and foot wear contain 5% , and household 7%.

comparison to 2018 expenditure on food dramatically increases about 30%, meanwhile money spend on housing and clothing approximately 10% , its proportion is decreases as compare to 1968. expenditure on transport and leisure decline to 10 %. money spend on personal goods is one of the least number .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

The response attempts to compare the two years and includes an overview, but several central figures and trends are reversed or assigned to the wrong year. For example, food was about 35% in 1968 and 17% in 2018, not roughly 18% and 30%; leisure rose from about 9% to 22%, rather than falling to 10%; and transport increased from about 8% to 14%. The overview also calls food one of the highest categories in 2018, although leisure was highest and housing was also above food. Some categories are mentioned, but the inaccurate reporting means the main features are only minimally conveyed. Check each bar against the correct year, then summarise the largest categories and the clearest increases and decreases.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

There is a basic attempt to organise the response into an introduction, an overview and comparison paragraphs, and linking expressions such as “Overall,” “In contrast” and “Meanwhile” show an effort to connect ideas. However, the progression is difficult to follow because the years are not consistently distinguished: the paragraph beginning “In 1968” gives several 2018 figures, while the next paragraph introduces figures as a comparison to 2018. Connectors are also sometimes used where the relationship between the figures is unclear, and punctuation spacing disrupts the flow. A clearer structure would give the overview first, then one paragraph comparing the main categories in 1968 with 2018, using explicit year labels for every set of figures.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The response uses some relevant chart vocabulary, including “proportion,” “expenditure,” “in contrast” and “substantially,” and it attempts to describe change with words such as “increased” and “decline.” However, the range is limited and several choices or combinations are unnatural, including “income spend on leisure,” “one of highest,” and “least number.” Repetition of “money spend” and “roughly about” also makes the description less precise. Use standard collocations for chart reporting, such as “families spent,” “accounted for,” and “the proportion allocated to,” and choose verbs that accurately describe the direction of change. Careful spelling of category names, including “footwear,” would also improve clarity.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts some longer sentences and comparative structures, for example “In contrast money spend on food…” and “its proportion is decreases as compare to 1968,” but these are often faulty. Errors include missing or incorrect articles and verb forms, as in “one of highest” and “money spend,” as well as problems with agreement and sentence boundaries. The opening sentence is also awkwardly constructed, making the relationship between families and their spending unclear. Most sentences rely on simple patterns, and punctuation is inconsistent, with spaces before commas and full stops and some sentence starts left in lower case. Practise accurate past-tense reporting and simple comparison structures first, then combine them into longer sentences while checking articles, verbs and punctuation.

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