Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-25

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 chart illustrates the information about the family in a particular country how they spend their weekly income in 1968 and in 2018.

From an overll point of view, highest expenditure is done in food and least in fuel and power.The expenditure is done eight different sector including food, housing , clothing and many more.Fuel and power stood for lowest expenditure item in both year.

At first,in 1968 huge income was spent on food about 35% followed by housing and clothing and footware with 10% in both. Leisure accounted for around 8% and personal goods and transportation remain around 7%.Very less amount was spent on fuel with just 6%.

At last,in 2018 highest monthly income expenses were done in Leisure around 23%and least were done in fuel and personal good with the number around 7%. Expenditure on housing stood for second highest around 18% of total weekly income . followed by transportation around 14%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify several relevant features, including food as the largest category in 1968 and leisure as the largest in 2018, and you compare housing and transport. However, the overview is unclear and partly inaccurate: fuel and power was not the lowest category in 2018, since personal goods was equally low at about 4%, and household goods remained at 8% in both years. Some figures are also misreported: 2018 leisure was about 22%, while fuel and personal goods were about 4%, not 7%. The response does not cover all categories or clearly summarise the main changes. It is also 146 words, below the required 150 words; the eight words copied from the prompt are excluded from this count.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic paragraph structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate descriptions of the two years. This gives the reader some organisation, and phrases such as “At first” and “At last” signal movement through the chart. However, progression is not always clear, and the year-by-year approach leads to limited direct comparison. Some linking is awkward or incomplete, as in “followed by housing and clothing and footware with 10% in both,” while the overview repeats the point about fuel being the lowest. Improve cohesion by grouping categories that rose, fell, or stayed stable, and use clear comparisons such as “whereas” and “by contrast.”

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant chart vocabulary, including “accounted for,” “expenditure,” and “stood for,” and the reader can generally understand the categories being discussed. However, the range is limited and several choices are unnatural or imprecise, such as “huge income was spent,” “monthly income expenses,” and “the number around 7%.” There are also spelling and word-form problems, including “overll,” “footware,” and “personal good.” These errors reduce precision, particularly when describing proportions. Aim for standard report language such as “accounted for 35% of weekly spending” and check the spelling and plural forms of category names.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple statements and longer comparisons, but the range of sentence structures is limited and errors occur frequently. For example, “the family in a particular country how they spend” lacks a grammatical connection between the subject and the description, while “Fuel and power stood for lowest expenditure item in both year” has problems with articles and number agreement. Punctuation and spacing are also inconsistent, with missing spaces after commas and a full stop before a lower-case “followed.” Use complete, controlled sentences and check articles, plurals, and verb forms. For instance: “Fuel and power accounted for the smallest share in both years.”

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