Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-11-02

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 graph compares the information of average spending by the families per week between 1968 and 2008. Overall, it is evident that peple spent more money on the food items, and less on the fuel and power.

Looking into the details, food category had the highest propotion among the others, and accounted for 35% in 1968, which decreased significantly to just 17% of weekly by the year 2018. Furthermore, housing and leisure activities experienced the similar trend, where housing climbed from 10% to approximately 20% of income during the same period, and leisure activities increased considerably to just 24% by the year 2018. Moreover, the transport also experienced the upward trend, started from 7% and reached to approximately 15% of weekly income. On the other hand, household goods remained stable during both years. While clothing and footwear experienced a gradual decline from 10% to 5% by the year 2018. The similar trend have been observed by the personal goods as well.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify several important patterns, including the sharp fall in food spending, the rise in housing and leisure, and the stability of household goods. However, the overview is incomplete: it says food was the highest category but does not highlight that leisure became the largest share in 2018, while fuel and power was the smallest. There is also a date error in the introduction, which says 2008 rather than 2018. Some figures are not fully accurate: leisure is about 22%, not 24%, and transport is about 8% in 1968, rather than 7%. The response covers the main changes, but clearer selection of the key comparisons and more precise reporting would make the summary more complete and reliable.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a generally clear sequence: an introduction and overview are followed by comparisons of the categories. Linking expressions such as “Furthermore,” “Moreover,” and “On the other hand” help signal relationships between points. However, the body reads largely as a list, and the grouping of categories could be more deliberate—for example, discuss the categories that rose together, then those that fell or remained stable. “Housing and leisure activities experienced the similar trend” is also an unclear link because the two categories did not start at similar levels. The final sentence feels abrupt, and “The similar trend” has an unclear reference. More purposeful paragraphing and clearer links between comparisons would improve progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a reasonable range of task-related vocabulary, including “accounted for,” “decreased significantly,” “remained stable,” and “upward trend.” These expressions help describe changes rather than merely repeat figures. However, several word-choice and spelling errors reduce precision: “peple,” “propotion,” and “footwear” is misspelled as “footware” in the chart transcription, while “the information of average spending” is an awkward phrase. “Food items” is less precise than the chart category “food,” and “experienced the similar trend” is not a natural collocation. Aim for accurate category labels and concise reporting language, such as “the proportion spent on food” and “rose.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentences, including a relative clause in “35% in 1968, which decreased significantly” and a contrast introduced by “On the other hand.” Most of the meaning remains understandable, but some grammatical errors are noticeable. For example, “housing and leisure activities experienced the similar trend” needs an article adjustment, and “the transport also experienced the upward trend, started from 7%” has an incomplete verb construction; write “transport rose from about 8%.” The final sentence, “The similar trend have been observed,” has subject–verb agreement and article problems. Check sentence completeness, agreement, and article use when revising.

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