Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

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

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 given bar graph compares the data about in which manners families spent their earning on food, housing, fuel and power, clothing and footware, household goods, personal goods, transport and leisure per week in 1968 and 2018.

Overall, food that dominates in 1968, whereas other spending's were remained at lower levels. In contrast, in 2000 the leisure costed a higher percentage than all. Additionally, household expenses were same in both years.

Commencing from 1968 the spending on food was 35% but it declined in 2018 and made up just above 15%. Subsequently, in 1968 people spent almost 10% on leisure however it rose in 2018 figured between 20 to 25%. Additionally, housing costed 10% in 1968 and in 2018 it went upward and contributed just below 20%. In 1968 spending on transport were 8% and it climbed on 14% in 2018.

In contrast, the trend of spending on clothing and footware were 10& it gradually dropped to 5%. Furthermore, personal goods spending was more than in 1968 and went downward to below 5%. household goods remined same. Fuel and power consumes lowest money in both years about just above and below 5% respectively.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify several important features accurately: food was the largest category in 1968 at 35% and fell to about 17% in 2018, while leisure rose from around 9% to 22%; housing and transport also increased, and household goods stayed at 8%. This gives the response a relevant overview and supports it with figures. However, the overview says “in 2000,” although the chart compares 2018, and the claim that other spending categories remained at lower levels is broad and not fully informative. Some details are unclear or inaccurate: personal-goods spending fell from 8% to 4%, rather than being “more than in 1968,” and fuel and power was about 6% then 4%. A more precise overview and clearer reporting of these less-developed comparisons would strengthen the response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs reporting figures. The categories are generally grouped sensibly, and linking expressions such as “In contrast” and “Additionally” help signal relationships. However, progression within the paragraphs is sometimes mechanical, with “Additionally” repeated, and the contrast between the two years is not consistently made explicit. The sentence about personal goods is difficult to follow, while “household goods remined same” is an abrupt fragment-like addition rather than a fully integrated comparison. Use clearer topic sentences and organise the details into meaningful groups—for example, categories that rose versus those that fell or stayed stable. This would make the overall progression easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a reasonable range of task-related vocabulary, including “declined,” “rose,” “contributed,” and “climbed,” so the main trends can usually be understood. However, several word choices and collocations are unnatural or imprecise: “in which manners,” “spent their earning,” “leisure costed,” and “went upward” do not express the data naturally. There are also spelling errors in “footware” and “remined,” and “spending’s” uses an incorrect apostrophe. These issues make the description less fluent and occasionally obscure the intended comparison. Aim for standard chart language such as “share of weekly income,” “accounted for,” “increased,” and “remained unchanged,” and check spelling and word forms carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including the contrast structure “Overall, food that dominates in 1968, whereas…” and clauses beginning with “although” and “however.” Nevertheless, errors occur across many sentences and sometimes make relationships unclear. For example, “Overall, food that dominates” lacks a finite verb in its first clause, and “other spending’s were remained” combines incompatible verb forms. There are also agreement and tense problems in “spending on transport were 8%” and “Fuel and power consumes.” Practise forming complete clauses and keeping past-tense reporting consistent: for example, “Food accounted for 35% in 1968, whereas its share fell to about 17% in 2018.” More accurate control of these basic patterns is needed alongside the range you attempt.

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