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 bar chart illustrates about how families in one country spent their weekly income in 1968 and in 2018 in different sectors like food, housing, fuel and power, clothing and footware, household goods, personal goods, transport, and leisure.

Overall, food has the highest propotion of spending weekly income on it. whereas, leisure has the highest spending of weekly income in 2018. In 2018, both fuel and power and personal goods has the lowest spending on them.

Looking first at 1968 trends, food has highest spend of weekly income which is 35% of it. Followed by housing and clothing and footware which has similar spending which is 10%. Household goods, personal goods, and transport has the same percentage of money invested on them which is 8%. While, on fuel and power people spent least money which is roughly only 6%.

Then in 2018, the money spending trends changed alot. People spent major part of their monthely income on leisure which is 24%. At second place people spent money on housing with 18% of their income. while, fuel and power and personal goods takes lowest percentage of people income with approxmately 7%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the chart’s subject and give a broad overview, noting food’s prominence in 1968 and leisure’s in 2018. You also select several relevant figures, including food at 35% and housing at about 10% in 1968. However, the overview is unclear because it says food has the highest share overall, then says leisure is highest in 2018, without clearly comparing the two years. There are also important inaccuracies: leisure in 2018 is about 22%, not 24%, and fuel and power and personal goods are about 4% each, not 7%. Include the major shifts—especially the fall in food and rise in leisure, housing and transport—and report the figures more accurately.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, an overview, and separate paragraphs for 1968 and 2018. This makes the two years easy to follow, and phrases such as “Looking first” and “Then in 2018” signal the progression. However, some linking is mechanical or awkward. “Overall … whereas” creates a sentence fragment, and “While” at the start of the 1968 sentence is not smoothly connected to the preceding information. The overview also combines claims in a way that is difficult to interpret. Improve cohesion by using complete, clearly linked sentences and by grouping comparisons—for example, contrast the categories that rose with those that fell between the years.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant chart vocabulary, including “proportion,” “percentage,” “spent,” and “income,” and the category names help keep the report on topic. There is some repetition of “spent” and “money,” however, and several expressions are imprecise or unnatural, such as “highest spend of weekly income,” “money invested on them,” and “money spending trends.” Spelling errors in “propotion,” “footware,” “alot,” “monthely,” and “approxmately” also reduce accuracy. Aim for concise, standard reporting language and check spelling carefully. More precise terms such as “accounted for,” “share of expenditure,” and “rose/fell” would make comparisons clearer without requiring unnecessarily complex vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, and the reader can generally understand the main comparisons. However, errors in agreement, sentence boundaries and clause structure recur. For example, “fuel and power and personal goods has” should use a plural verb, while “Overall, food has … . whereas” incorrectly separates a dependent contrast into a fragment. “Followed by housing…” is also an incomplete sentence, and “While, on fuel…” is not correctly punctuated or connected. Tense use shifts between present and past when describing the chart. Use consistent past-tense reporting, check subject–verb agreement, and make sure each sentence contains a complete main clause. These corrections would improve control while preserving your attempts at varied structures.

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