Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-14

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 illustrates the percentages of weekly income spent by families on 8 different facilities in 1968 and 2018 in a country. Majority of the families spent their weekly income on food in 1968 while in 2018, a major part of the income goes to leisure activities.

If we look at the bar chart, we can see that people spent 35% and almost 20% of their income in buying food in 1968 and 2018 respectively. Contrary, people spent more money in housing in 20218 than 1968. The sam pattern can be seen for transport section and leisure activities. Regarding personal goods, same percentage was spent in both years i.e almost 10%. Moreover, people spent more part of their income on clothing and footwear, personal goods and household goods in 1968 than in 2018. Clothing and footwear recieved 10% proportion while fuel and power and personal goods recieved almost 10%.

Overall this graph compares that families spent greater proportion of their income on leisure, transport, housing in 2018 than in 1968. This pattern is opposite for food , fuel and power , clothing and footwear, personal goods while no change appeared in household good expenses overtime.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the chart’s broad contrast: food takes the largest share in 1968, while leisure is highest in 2018, and you note increases in housing and transport. However, some comparisons are inaccurate or unclear. Personal goods did not remain at almost 10% in both years; it fell from about 8% to 4%. You also say families spent more on clothing, personal goods and household goods in 1968, although household goods were unchanged at about 8%. The overview is useful but repeats several categories without clearly prioritising the largest changes. Report the key figures accurately and distinguish increases, decreases and unchanged spending to make the summary more complete and reliable.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable introduction, a body paragraph and an overall statement, and it groups several comparisons together. This gives the reader some organisation. However, progression is not consistently clear: the overview appears first and then is repeated at the end, while the body moves between food, housing, transport, leisure and personal goods without a clear grouping. Linking expressions such as “If we look at the bar chart,” “Contrary,” and “Moreover” are either unnecessary or do not clearly show the relationship between ideas. Organise the body around meaningful patterns—for example, categories that rose, those that fell, and the unchanged category—and use concise, accurate links between comparisons.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant chart vocabulary, including “percentages,” “proportion,” “income,” and “compares,” so the topic is generally understandable. However, the range is limited and some choices are imprecise or repetitive. “Facilities” does not accurately describe spending categories, and “spent more part of their income” is an awkward collocation. “The same pattern can be seen for transport section” is also unclear, while “recieved” and “sam” show spelling errors. Use precise terms such as “categories,” “share,” and “accounted for,” and vary the language used to describe rises and falls. More accurate collocations would make the comparisons clearer and more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a contrast introduced by “while” and a concluding sentence that compares several categories. However, errors occur frequently, and some sentences are difficult to follow. For example, “a major part of the income goes to leisure activities” shifts into the present tense when describing past data, and “people spent more money in housing in 20218 than 1968” has an incorrect preposition and an incomplete comparison structure. The sentence beginning “Moreover” also has an unclear construction, and punctuation spacing is inconsistent. Use past-tense reporting consistently, check articles and prepositions, and build comparisons with parallel forms, such as “spending on housing was higher in 2018 than in 1968.”

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