Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-21

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 4.5)

The bar chart illustrate that the average weekly spending by families in one country

in the yera 1968 an in 2018.The units are measured in percentage.

Overall,it has witnessed that the most amount of income were spend on food,leisure,housing and transport as compared to both the year's.whereas the household goods remain same for both the year's

In 1968,Food has the highest amount for spending as 35%,followed by housing as 10%,then clothing and footwear,Leisure has 10% and 9% spending. Whereas transport,household goods and personal goods have same spending as 8%and the least amount was spend on is fuel and power as 6%

In 2018,Leisure has the highest amont of average spending as 22%,followed by food,housing and transport as 17%,19% and 14%.clouthing and footware has 10% and personal goods and house

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

You identify several important features, including the sharp fall in food spending from 35% and the rise of leisure to 22% in 2018. However, the overview is unclear and does not accurately summarise the main pattern: food was highest in 1968, while leisure was highest in 2018, and household goods—not all the listed categories—remained unchanged. There are also data errors: clothing and footwear was 10% in 1968 but 5% in 2018, not 10%; the 2018 figures for housing and food are given in the wrong order; and the final comparison is unfinished. The response is 21 words below the required minimum, which contributes to its limited coverage. Include a complete overview and report the key comparisons accurately.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a basic paragraph structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate paragraphs for the two years. This gives the reader some sense of how the information is organised. However, progression is weakened by unclear or inaccurate linking, such as “as compared to both the year's,” and the repeated use of “whereas” does not always establish a clear contrast. The 2018 paragraph ends abruptly at “personal goods and house,” leaving the comparison incomplete. Some sentences also combine several figures without clear punctuation, making relationships difficult to follow. Use complete sentences, group related changes across the years, and connect comparisons explicitly—for example, contrast the fall in food spending with the rise in leisure.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant chart vocabulary, including “average weekly spending,” “percentage,” “highest,” and “followed by,” so the topic is generally recognisable. However, the range is limited and several word-choice or spelling problems reduce clarity: “amont,” “clouthing,” and “footware” are misspelled, while “the most amount of income” is an awkward expression. Repetition of “spending” and “amount” also makes the description less precise. Choose standard category names from the chart and use concise reporting language, such as “accounted for,” “share,” or “proportion.” Check spelling carefully, especially for chart labels, and avoid phrases that sound translated or unnatural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

There are attempts to form longer sentences and use comparison structures, but control is inconsistent. The opening has subject–verb and tense problems in “The bar chart illustrate” and “it has witnessed,” while “the most amount of income were spend” contains agreement and verb-form errors. Articles and sentence boundaries are also unreliable, as in “In 2018,Leisure” and the run-on sequence of figures that follows. The final sentence is incomplete, so its grammatical relationship cannot be understood. Most clauses rely on simple patterns, and errors sometimes make the intended meaning harder to follow. Practise accurate past-tense reporting and build complete sentences around one clear comparison at a time.

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