Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-08

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)

Information pertaining to income used per week by families in 1968 and 2018 is depicted by the provided bar graph.

Overall, it can be seen that the highest proportion of weekly income was spent on food in the year 1968. The lowest proportion of income spent on personal goods and fuel and power.

Scutinizing deeper into the obtainable information, th percentage of weekly income spent on leisure was the higest among other features in 2018. The proportion of income spent on households, personal goods and transport had equal propotion in the year 1968.

Digging deeper into the provided bar graph, the percentage of income spent on clothing and footware in 1968 was a half of the percentage of leisure in the year 2018.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

You identify relevant features, including food as the largest category in 1968 and leisure as the largest in 2018, and your comparison that clothing in 1968 was half the leisure share in 2018 is accurate. However, the response gives only a few selected observations and does not provide a sufficiently complete summary of the chart. The statement that personal goods and fuel and power were the lowest in 1968 is inaccurate: fuel and power was the lowest, while personal goods was tied with household goods and transport. You also omit important changes, such as the fall in food spending and the rise in housing and transport. The response is below the required 150 words, which further limits its coverage. Develop the overview and support it with more accurate comparisons.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs presenting details. This makes the main purpose understandable, and phrases such as “Overall” and “Digging deeper” signal movement between points. However, the progression is limited because the details are not grouped into a clear comparison of the two years, and the final paragraph adds only one isolated comparison. The repeated “deeper” framing also feels mechanical, while the relationship between the overview and the later details is not always clear. Organise the body around the main changes—for example, categories that rose versus those that fell—and use concise linking language to show those comparisons.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use a reasonable range of task-related vocabulary, including “proportion,” “percentage,” “depicted,” and “bar graph,” and the meaning is generally clear. There are also attempts at more formal phrasing, such as “Scutinizing deeper into the obtainable information,” although this wording is unnatural and does not improve precision. Spelling errors such as “higest,” “propotion,” and “footware” reduce accuracy, and “households” is not the correct label for the chart category “household goods.” Aim for precise, natural chart language rather than ornate expressions: “Looking more closely at the figures” is clearer, while “accounted for” or “share of weekly spending” can help vary your descriptions. Check spelling and category names carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use both simple statements and more developed sentence forms, including “the percentage of weekly income spent on leisure was the highest,” and most of your meaning can be followed. Some grammatical issues remain. In “The lowest proportion of income spent on personal goods and fuel and power,” the sentence has no main verb; write, for example, “The lowest proportion was spent on fuel and power.” The opening sentence is also awkwardly constructed, and the phrase “a half of the percentage” would be more naturally expressed as “half the proportion.” There is some control of basic sentence patterns, but greater accuracy in complete sentences and comparison structures would make the report clearer. Proofread for missing verbs and ensure each sentence expresses a complete idea.

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