Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-20

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 below represents data how families used to spend their weeks at two different times in 1968 and 2018.

Overall, almost all the listed items showed and increment in usage other than Clothing and footware. Food consumption gained the most increase whereas, fuel and power rose to a small extent.

The consumption of food was roughly 35% in 1968, which fell sharply to 17% by 2018. Housing, on the other hand, incremented around double it's percentage from 1968 going from 10% to 19% in 2018. A decrease was also seen in Fuel and power if we look at the chart, it was previously used 6% per week and dropped to 4% by 2018. A decline was also noticed for clothing and footware which halved in 2018 to 5% from 10% in 1968.

Whereas, household items remained the same over time at 8%. Personal goods also fell from 8% as of 1968 to half of it by 2018. Transpost usage increased reaching 14% usage each week in 2018 which was at 9%. Leisure usage went frm 9 5 to 22% in 2018.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You report most categories and several key figures accurately, including food falling from about 35% to 17%, housing rising from 10% to 19%, and household goods staying at 8%. However, the overview is substantially inaccurate: it says almost all items increased and that food had the greatest increase, when food actually fell sharply and leisure—not food—rose most, from 9% to 22%. Fuel and power also decreased, rather than rising. The final leisure figure is unclear (“went frm 9 5 to 22%”), and transport’s starting value is given as 9% instead of about 8%. These errors weaken the selection and reporting of the main features. Make the overview reflect the dominant rises and falls, then check each comparison against the chart.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs reporting details. Comparisons such as “Housing, on the other hand” and the grouping of household and personal goods help connect information. However, progression is weakened because the overview gives an incorrect account of the trends, and the final paragraph begins with the fragment-like “Whereas,” rather than linking smoothly to the previous paragraph. Some transitions are also mechanical or confusing, as in “if we look at the chart,” while the sequence of categories does not clearly group the largest changes together. Organise the details into clear groups—categories that rose and those that fell or stayed stable—and use accurate, direct linking phrases to make the comparison easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant chart vocabulary, including “fell sharply,” “dropped,” “halved,” and “remained the same,” which helps describe changes. However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural: families do not “spend their weeks,” categories are not “used” as percentages, and “incremented” is not a suitable verb for describing a rise in spending. “Food consumption” also suggests the amount of food eaten rather than the share of income spent on food. Spelling errors such as “footware,” “Transpost,” and “frm” reduce accuracy, and “usage” is repeated. Use precise terms such as “share of weekly income,” “expenditure,” “rose,” and “accounted for,” and proofread category names carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mixture of simple and more complex sentences, including comparisons with “which” and contrast clauses such as “Housing, on the other hand.” However, errors are frequent enough to make some sentences awkward or unclear. For example, “almost all the listed items showed and increment” has an incorrect article and conjunction, while “incremented around double it's percentage” has faulty sentence construction and possessive form. The opening “represents data how families…” also lacks a grammatical link between “data” and the following clause. In the final paragraph, “Whereas” introduces an incomplete sentence, and “which was at 9%” has an unclear reference. Practise complete sentence structures, accurate clause connections, and possessives, then check punctuation and sentence boundaries.

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