Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-12

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 chart illustrates the data on how weekly families expenses varrying in one country, in the period of 1968 and 2018.

Overall, it can be seen that following sectors including food, clothing and footware and personal goods contribute significanly 1968. while housing, transport and leisure sectors have provide a large proportion in 2018.

first and foremost, individuals weekly spending on transpot and housing have been considerably increased, with 10% to almost 20% and 8 percent to approximately 15 percent respectively. in comprison, fuel and power sector along with cloothing and footwear have moderately declined , followed by the 2% and 5% dropping down respectively.

Moreover, most percent of weekly spending goes housing, which have contributed massively in chart with 10% to almost 15% in 2018. however, food area had faced decline in its spending from 35% to 17 percent in 2018. household goods showed plateau trend over the period of 50 years.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You identify several important changes, especially the fall in food spending from 35% to 17% and the rise in housing and leisure, and your overview distinguishes the categories that were more prominent in each year. This gives the response a clear, relevant basis. Some details, however, are inaccurate or unclear: transport rose from 8% to 14%, not from 10% to almost 20%, and housing rose from 10% to 19%, rather than to approximately 15%. The overview also omits leisure’s rise to 22%, the largest 2018 share. Your coverage is therefore strong in parts but not consistently precise; check each comparison against the chart and select the most striking figures for the overview.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, moving from an introduction and overview to details, and paragraphing helps separate the main summary from comparisons. However, progression within the detail paragraphs is not always clear: transport and housing are grouped with declines in fuel and clothing, then housing is repeated before food and household goods are discussed. Linking expressions such as “first and foremost,” “moreover,” and “however” are sometimes mechanical or do not clearly show the relationship between ideas. The overview sentence also runs into the next sentence without appropriate capitalisation. Group the increases together and the decreases or stable figures together, and use fewer, more precise transitions to make the comparisons easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You attempt a range of task-related vocabulary, including “contribute,” “declined,” “plateau trend,” and “proportion,” so the reader can generally understand the categories and changes. However, noticeable spelling and word-choice errors reduce precision, including “varrying,” “significanly,” “transpot,” “cloothing,” and “in comprison.” Some phrases are also unnatural or imprecise: “weekly families expenses” and “have provide a large proportion” do not express the intended meaning clearly. Use standard chart language consistently, such as “accounted for,” “rose,” “fell,” and “remained stable.” More accurate spelling and natural collocations would make your vocabulary more effective without requiring more complicated words.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You use both simple statements and attempts at more complex comparisons, for example, “while housing, transport and leisure sectors have provide a large proportion in 2018.” However, errors in verb forms, agreement, sentence boundaries, and punctuation are frequent enough to make some sentences difficult to process. Examples include “have been considerably increased,” “which have contributed,” and the lower-case sentence openings after full stops. The sentence beginning “first and foremost” also joins several comparisons without clear grammatical control. Practise accurate past-tense forms for the two years (“rose,” “fell,” “accounted for”) and check subject–verb agreement. Shorter, complete sentences will help you express comparisons clearly while you build control of complex structures.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.