Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-11

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 compares how families in one country spent their weekly income between 1968 and 2018.

Overall, the spending on food had decreased noticeably over the period, and it has highest purchased proportion in both years among the all. While, there was a massive increase in both the figures of leisure and housing.

In 1968, about 35% of the weekly earning spent on food, and this figure declined dramatically to almost 17% in 2018. The percentage of spending on leisure and housing had increased significantly, approximately 9% and 10% to 22% and 19% respectively in 2018.

In contrast, the figures dropped gradually for clothing and footware, and personal goods, which declined to almost 50 percent of the total in 2018. Moreover, the proportion for household remained unchanged over the period. In addition, there was a gradual increase in the spending on transport, which rose up from 8% to 14%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the main contrast: food spending fell substantially, while leisure and housing rose, and you include several relevant figures. However, the overview is not fully accurate: food was the largest category in 1968, but leisure, at 22%, was the largest in 2018; the claim that food had the highest proportion in both years misreports the chart. The statement that clothing and personal goods “declined to almost 50 percent” is also inaccurate: these categories fell to 5% and 4%, respectively. Household goods stayed at 8%, and transport rose from 8% to 14%, both correctly reported. The response is 141 words, below the 150-word minimum. Check the rankings and describe the smaller categories precisely.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, an overview and two detail paragraphs. The final paragraph also groups several declining or stable categories together, which helps organise the comparisons. However, progression is weakened by the inaccurate overview and by the unclear sentence about clothing and personal goods, which makes the data difficult to follow. Some linking is mechanical or awkward: “While” begins a fragment after a full stop, and “In contrast” does not clearly signal the relationship between the categories that follow. Use clearer topic sentences and group categories by trend—for example, rising, falling and unchanged—then connect each comparison explicitly. This would make the overall organisation more coherent and reduce the reader’s need to infer relationships.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a reasonable range of task-related vocabulary, including “declined dramatically,” “increased significantly,” “proportion” and “remained unchanged.” These choices communicate the broad trends, but several expressions are inaccurate or unnatural and reduce precision. “Highest purchased proportion” is not an appropriate way to describe a spending share, while “weekly earning” and “figures of leisure and housing” are awkward collocations. “Almost 50 percent of the total” is especially misleading because the chart shows values of 5% and 4%, not a combined figure near 50%. There is also a spelling error in “footware.” Aim for standard chart language such as “accounted for,” “share of weekly income” and “percentage,” and check that each phrase matches the data.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, and most of the intended comparisons can be understood. However, errors in sentence construction and verb forms are frequent enough to make some sentences awkward or unclear. For example, “While, there was a massive increase” is an incomplete construction after the preceding full stop, and “the spending on food had decreased” shifts to the past perfect without a clear reference point. In “35% of the weekly earning spent,” the sentence is missing a finite verb, and “it has highest purchased proportion” has problems with article use and sentence structure. Practise complete clauses and consistent past-tense reporting: for example, “Families spent about 35% of their income on food in 1968.” Punctuate linking clauses carefully.

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