Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · 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 4.5)

The bar chart compares how families in one country spent their weekly income 1968 and in 2018.

Overall, mostly families spent their weekly income on food in1968. Housing and Leisure were also dominant. On the other hand, fuel and power, clothing and footware, household goods, personal goods, and transport had almost similar figure.

Food consumped by 35% in 1968 and this figure dropped by 18 percen in 2018. Housing and leisure income were consumed by arount 8 and 10 percent. Meanwhile, fuel and power, Clothing and footware, household goods, personal goods, and transport were fluctuate between 6 and 10 percent in 1968. Furthermore, in 2018 fuel and power, clothing and footware, household goods, and personal goods similarly same but transport increased by 7 percent.

In stark contrast, food consumption is one of the ecpenditure which is mostly consumed people weekly income.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

The response identifies the chart’s broad subject and notes the major fall in food spending, but it reports several figures inaccurately or unclearly. Food fell from 35% to 17%, a decrease of 18 percentage points, rather than “18 percen” without a clear comparison. The statement that housing and leisure were “around 8 and 10 percent” does not match the chart: in 2018 they were 19% and 22%, while in 1968 they were 10% and 9%. The overview also incorrectly groups housing and leisure as dominant in 1968. The response contains 132 words, below the required 150, and this limits the detail and coverage of the main comparisons. Select the largest changes accurately and support them with clear figures.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

There is a basic paragraph structure: an introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs of details. However, the information does not progress clearly, and some comparisons are difficult to follow. For example, “Housing and leisure income were consumed by arount 8 and 10 percent” does not make clear which year or category each figure refers to. The final sentence repeats the idea that food is a major expense rather than adding a useful comparison. Linking phrases such as “On the other hand,” “Meanwhile,” and “Furthermore” are present, but they do not consistently clarify the relationships between the data. Organise the body by year or by the largest increases and decreases, and use explicit references to categories and years.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The response uses some relevant chart vocabulary, including “weekly income,” “dropped,” “increased,” and “in stark contrast,” so the topic is generally recognisable. However, the range is limited and several word-choice, collocation, and spelling errors make parts difficult to understand. “Food consumped by 35%” is not a natural way to describe a proportion, while “expenditure which is mostly consumed people weekly income” is unclear. There are also misspellings such as “footware,” “arount,” and “ecpenditure.” Use precise reporting language such as “accounted for,” “stood at,” and “rose by,” and check spelling and collocations. Avoid repeating “consumed” when describing spending shares.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts a few longer sentences, including one beginning “Meanwhile,” but its grammatical range is limited and errors occur frequently. The opening omits a necessary preposition (“spent their weekly income 1968”) and the overview has an incomplete construction: “mostly families spent their weekly income on food in1968.” In “Housing and leisure income were consumed,” the sentence structure does not clearly express the intended comparison. The final sentence also lacks a clear grammatical relationship between “expenditure,” “consumed,” and “people weekly income.” These problems sometimes make the meaning hard to follow. Practise accurate simple comparison sentences first, then add controlled complex forms, paying attention to articles, prepositions, verb forms, and complete sentence structure.

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