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 illustrates the information about how the families living in one country spent their weekly income in 1968 and in 2018.

Overall, food expenditure fell sharply over the years ,while, leisure shows a significant rose with transport and housing as well. Household goods remained unchanged.

Food decreases significantly from 35% to approximately 17% , fuel and power from 7% to 4%, clothing and footware from 10% to 5% and personal goods from 8% to 4% from 1968 to 2018 respectivley.

Meanwhile, Housing gradually goes up from 10% to 19%, transport from 8% to 14%, leisure from 22% to 9% approximately with household goods remained the same from 1968 to 2018 repectively.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

You identify the main contrast in food spending and note that household goods stayed unchanged, and you include several relevant figures. However, a major trend is reversed: leisure rose from about 9% in 1968 to 22% in 2018, but your response says it fell from 22% to 9%. This makes the overview and comparison inaccurate. The response also contains only 101 words, below the required 150, so the summary is too brief to cover the chart adequately. Some figures are close to the chart, but the incorrect leisure comparison and limited selection of key features mean the task is addressed only minimally. Check each category against the chart and include a fuller overview of the largest changes.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

The response has a basic paragraph structure: an introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs of comparisons. Words such as “Overall” and “Meanwhile” help signal the purpose of each section. However, the progression is weakened by grouping several figures into long lists rather than organising them around clear patterns, and the final paragraph combines an incorrect leisure trend with the other increases. The phrase “respectively” is also used where the relationships between the figures are not clearly mapped. Develop a clearer sequence—for example, first compare the largest falls, then the main rises and unchanged category—and use linking expressions to show those relationships precisely.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant chart vocabulary, including “expenditure,” “fell sharply,” “remained unchanged,” and “approximately,” which helps communicate comparisons. There is some range in the language used to describe change, but several word-form, spelling, and collocation problems reduce precision: “a significant rose” is not a natural expression, while “respectivley” and “repectively” are misspelled. “Food decreases significantly” is also less suitable for describing a completed period than a past-tense trend expression. Aim for accurate, consistent terms such as “the proportion spent on food” and “increased substantially.” Proofreading spelling and choosing natural collocations would make the description clearer.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple statements and more complex comparisons, and the main meaning is generally understandable. However, control is uneven, particularly when describing trends: “leisure shows a significant rose” has an incorrect verb form, and “with household goods remained the same” does not form a grammatical clause. Tense also shifts between past and present in “Food decreases” and “Housing gradually goes up,” despite the chart comparing two past years. Punctuation around commas is inconsistent, as in “years ,while,” and some sentences are crowded with several comparisons. Use past-tense verbs consistently and separate the comparisons into complete, clearly structured sentences.

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