Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-16

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 graph depicts the information about the how families in one country their weekly income in 1968 and in 2018.

It can be seen clearly from bar graph, the families spent money on food that was 35% in 1968 and in 2018 it was on above 15%, while in 1968 the weekly income invested on housing that noted at 10% . But, in 2018 , it accounted at almost 20% in same thing . Whereas, the families spended money on fuel and power was 6% in 1968 and in 2018 that noted at less then 5% .

Furthermore, in 1968,families weekly income spent on personal goods that was less then10% but in 2018 it accounted at 4% . By contrast, aimost 8% money spent by familier weekly in 1968 and almost 15% in 2018 in same thing . In contrast, in 1968 and 2018 families money invested on leisure that was 9% and 22%.

Overall, the maximum money invested on food and minimum on fuel and power as compared to others during the given time period

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify several relevant categories and report some broadly accurate figures, including food at 35% in 1968, housing at about 10% and 20%, and leisure rising from 9% to 22%. However, the task is only partly covered: clothing, household goods and transport are not clearly identified, and the comparison described as “almost 8% ... in 1968 and almost 15% in 2018” is unclear, so the reader cannot tell which category it refers to. The overview also says food was the maximum and fuel and power the minimum across the period, but this is not true in 2018, when leisure was highest and personal goods and fuel were lowest. Select the main rises and falls and make the overall changes explicit.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has separate paragraphs and attempts to group information, using markers such as “Furthermore,” “By contrast” and “Overall.” These give it some organisation. However, there is no clear progression from an overview to well-organised comparisons, and several links are either repetitive or do not clarify the relationship between figures. For example, “in same thing” leaves the category in the middle comparison unidentified, while “Whereas” introduces a sentence that is not clearly connected to the preceding point. Group the categories by their trends—for example, those that rose and those that fell—and use clear category references rather than relying on vague phrases.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some task-relevant vocabulary, including “weekly income,” “accounted” and “By contrast,” and the reader can recognise the general subject. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, sometimes making the meaning difficult to follow. Phrases such as “families spended money,” “money invested on leisure” and “in same thing” are not natural ways to describe chart proportions. There are also noticeable spelling errors, including “aimost,” “less then” and “familier.” Use precise reporting language such as “spent,” “accounted for” and “the proportion allocated to,” and name each spending category directly.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt to combine ideas using clauses and contrast markers, but the range of sentence structures is limited and errors occur frequently, sometimes obscuring the intended comparison. The opening sentence, “depicts the information about the how families ... their weekly income,” has a faulty clause structure and is missing a clear verb phrase. Other examples include “the families spent money on food that was 35%” and “it accounted at almost 20%,” where sentence construction and preposition patterns are not controlled. Punctuation and spacing are also inconsistent. Practise writing direct comparison sentences with a clear subject and verb, such as “Families allocated 35% of their income to food in 1968, compared with 17% in 2018.”

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