Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-13

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 5.0)

The bar chart below illustrates how families in one country spent their weekly income in the time span of 1968 and 2018.

Overall, the bar chart portrays how families spend their average weekly income in one country in 1968 and 2018. The food category is among the highest with 35% of weekly income in 1968. However, personal goods along with fuel and power faced a decline with the lowest percentage of 4% in 2018.

Looking first at the bar chart, the average weekly income of families changed from 1968 and 2018. The food portion stands among the highest weekly income with 35% in 1968, while dropped to 16% in 2018. Leisure is recorded with 22% in 1986, fell to 9% in 2018. Housing comes with 19% in 1968 dropped 10% in 2018. Clothing and footwear roused up with 10% and decreased with 5% in 2018, while household goods stays at the same position with 7% in both years. Personal goods went up to 7% in 1986 and decreased to 4% in 2018.

As per the information given, Transport faced 6% of weekly income in 1968 while 14% in 2018. Fuel and power faced a decline with the lowest percentage with 6% in 1968 and 4% in 2018.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

You identify the chart’s subject and include several relevant comparisons, such as food falling from 35% to about 16% and leisure rising to 22%. However, key figures and directions are repeatedly misreported: leisure was 9% in 1968 and 22% in 2018, housing rose from 10% to 19%, and transport rose from 8% to 14%. You also describe personal goods as rising before falling, although it declined from 8% to 4%. The overview is not sufficiently accurate or clear, and it omits the major shift from food toward leisure and housing. Focus on the largest changes and verify each year and value before writing.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a recognisable introduction, overview and two detail paragraphs, and it generally groups information by category. This gives the reader some organisation. However, progression is weakened by repeated statements about food and by transitions that do not clearly show the comparison, such as “Looking first at the bar chart” and “As per the information given.” Some sentences combine several categories without a consistent pattern, while the overview repeats the introduction rather than summarising the main changes. Organise the details into clear groups—for example, categories that increased and those that decreased—and use accurate year references to make links between comparisons easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a reasonable range of chart-related vocabulary, including “decline,” “portion,” and “percentage,” and the topic remains understandable. However, several choices are inaccurate or unnatural for describing data: “faced a decline,” “comes with,” “roused up,” and “stays at the same position” do not express the trends precisely. There are also spelling errors in “footware” and “roused,” and repeated use of “weekly income” makes the description less flexible. Choose standard trend language and check spelling; for example, say a figure “rose,” “fell,” or “remained stable,” and describe a category as accounting for a share of income.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including comparisons joined with “while” and “however.” Nevertheless, errors are frequent enough to make some relationships unclear. Examples include “changed from 1968 and 2018,” where the comparison pattern is incorrect, and “while dropped to 16%,” which lacks a clear subject and verb structure. Tense and sentence construction are also inconsistent in “Leisure is recorded with 22% in 1986, fell to 9% in 2018.” Use a consistent past tense for the chart and make each comparison a complete clause, such as “Food fell from 35% in 1968 to 17% in 2018.”

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

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