Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-29

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 line chart describe the households weekly income between 19s and 20s in one region.

Overall, the graph show the proportion of families usage of food, housing , fuel and electricity , outfits footwear ,household and personal goods, transportation and leisure and there use between the required period.

In the begining, in 1968 mostly families prefer to buy food approximatly 35%, while outfits and housing are on the second after food in 1968 that is aprixmatly 10%, After that families goods personal needs transportation and lesure on 3rd place in 1968.

On the other hand, in 2018 the food need decreaed wtith the previous record and now it stop on approximatly 17% and yes housing increase if we compared it with the previous record and it stop nearly 19%, and in transport and leisure also seems to be increased 15% to 25% howerver household goods will same as from the previous records.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify several important comparisons: food is the largest category in 1968 at about 35%, while its share falls to around 17% in 2018; housing rises, and household goods remain stable. These points are relevant and broadly match the chart. However, the overview is vague and does not clearly summarise the main shift from food towards leisure and housing. Some details are inaccurate or unclear: clothing and housing, rather than clothing alone, are around 10% in 1968; transport and leisure do not both rise from 15% to 25%, and leisure is about 22% in 2018. Several categories, including fuel and power and personal goods, are not meaningfully compared. Select the clearest changes and report their figures precisely.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic overall structure, moving from an opening statement and overview to comparisons between 1968 and 2018. Phrases such as “On the other hand” signal a change of period, and the reader can follow the broad contrast. However, progression within paragraphs is weak: the 1968 sentence groups several categories together without clearly explaining their values, while the final sentence combines food, housing, transport, leisure and household goods in one long sequence. Linking is sometimes mechanical or unclear, as in “After that” and “and yes housing increase.” Organise the details into clearer comparison groups, such as categories that rose and those that fell or stayed stable, and use shorter sentences with explicit references to each year.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some task-relevant vocabulary, including “proportion,” “increased,” “decreased,” and “compared,” so the general subject is recognisable. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations make the meaning difficult to interpret. “Families prefer to buy food” describes preference rather than the share of income spent, and “families goods personal needs” is unclear. There are also frequent spelling errors, including “begining,” “approximatly,” “decreaed,” and “howerver,” which reduce clarity. Use precise chart language consistently, such as “accounted for,” “the proportion spent on,” and “remained unchanged.” Check spelling carefully and avoid informal fillers such as “yes.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt to connect ideas in longer sentences, for example with “while” and “if we compared it with the previous record,” but these structures are often faulty. Errors in verb forms and agreement appear in “the line chart describe” and “the graph show”; the opening also lacks a clear grammatical construction. The final sentence contains several clauses joined together without reliable punctuation, making relationships between ideas hard to follow. Articles and sentence boundaries are also inconsistent. Most sentences therefore require the reader to work out the intended meaning. Practise accurate simple comparison patterns first—for example, “Spending on housing rose from 10% to 19%”—then combine them with controlled clauses such as “whereas” or “while.”

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