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 below illustrates the information about how famillies in ine country spent their weekly income like food ' housing ' clothes ' transport ' leisure ... between 1968 and 2018 .

overall ' we have seen the most increasing line in food spending income and the minimum trends decreasing are personal goods and fuel and power while the leisure is the secend low trend after food spending trend and then housing line almost reach to leisure one and others are lower between them all .

furthermore , as we see in 1968 we notice that the heigher trend is food spending income which families spent in weekly that reached to 35% income and the lowest trend at the same time we got fuel and power is about in 5.3 % and others are all decreased except 3 trend are the same persontages 5.8% transport ' personal goods' housshold goods

here we are ' in 2018 year we gave the heighest line is leisure 20.5 % and the lowest ones is clothing and footware and personal goods are stocking between 4.8 % which also have little increasing trend housing comes with 19.6 % and then food line lower than it about 3 % and the rest trends are all under 15%

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 and housing as major categories in 2018. However, the overview is unclear and includes a key misreading: food did not increase; it fell from about 35% to 17%. The claim that personal goods and fuel showed the minimum decreasing trends is also imprecise, since clothing was lowest in 2018, while household goods stayed at roughly 8%. Some figures are close to the chart, but others are inaccurate or confusing, such as saying food was “about 3%” in 2018. To strengthen the response, give a clear overview of the main shifts and compare the largest rises and falls accurately.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate paragraphs for 1968 and 2018. This gives the reader some sense of how the information is organised. However, progression within paragraphs is difficult to follow, and the overview combines several trends without making their relationships clear. Connectors such as “furthermore” and “here we are” do not consistently show the relationship between points, while repeated references to “trend” and “line” make the account feel repetitive. Grouping categories by whether they rose, fell, or remained stable would create a clearer progression. Use straightforward linking phrases and refer to categories consistently so comparisons are easier to track.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some task-related vocabulary, including “weekly income,” “lowest,” “highest,” and “increasing trend,” so the reader can recognise that you are describing a chart. However, the range is limited and several choices are inaccurate or awkward, such as “the most increasing line in food spending income” and “the lowest ones … are stocking between.” Repeated use of “trend” and “line” also limits precision; the chart reports spending shares by category, rather than lines. Spelling errors such as “famillies,” “heigher,” and “persontages” are noticeable and sometimes slow understanding. Aim for precise terms such as “proportion,” “share,” “rose,” and “fell,” and check spelling before submitting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt longer sentences and use some comparison structures, for example, “the highest line is leisure … and the lowest ones is clothing.” However, many sentences are difficult to understand because of frequent problems with sentence structure, agreement, articles, and punctuation. In “the lowest ones … is,” the plural subject does not agree with the verb; clauses are also joined without clear boundaries, as in the long overview sentence beginning “we have seen.” Tense and phrasing are inconsistent when moving between years, and commas or full stops are often missing. Use shorter, complete sentences first, then add controlled comparisons—for example, “Food accounted for 35% in 1968, but its share fell to 17% in 2018.”

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