Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

The bar chart show how families in one country spent their weekly time incomefrom between 1968 to 2018 .

Overall, as we observed most on 1968 most of peaple are interisting more in food but on 2018 we see the oposite the persontage of food has declaine and most of peaple have speend their time by family on hosing or leisure.

On 1968 we see most people are spend the are time eating food 35 percentage by a huge diffrent between others activites , however if we look to other weekly spanding by family we see its the same persontage exapte the fuel and power that are the less persontage by 7 percentage.

On the other side if we look good we see that leisure are the frist spading time by a margin of from housing by 22 and 19 percentage respectiely and also we have on third food and transport by 14 percentage .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the main contrast: food accounted for the largest share in 1968, while leisure and housing were highest in 2018. You also report several relevant figures, including food at 35% in 1968 and leisure and housing at 22% and 19% in 2018. However, the account is only partial and some comparisons are inaccurate or unclear. In particular, the 1968 categories were not mostly the same: housing and clothing were 10%, while fuel and power was the lowest at 6%, not 7%. The overview also says families spent time on these activities, although the chart shows shares of income. The response is 147 words, below the required 150; the eight words copied from the prompt are not counted. Add a clearer overview and accurate comparisons to complete the task.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a basic overall structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate discussion of the two years. Phrases such as “On the other side” signal a shift to 2018, and the reader can generally follow the intended comparison. However, progression within paragraphs is weak, and some linking language does not clarify the relationship between ideas. For example, “if we look good” is unclear, while “by a huge different between others activities” does not explain the comparison. The 1968 paragraph also groups several categories together without a clear order. Organise the details around the largest changes and use precise links such as “whereas,” “by contrast,” and “in comparison.”

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

You attempt relevant chart vocabulary, including “percentage,” “declined,” “spending,” and “margin,” and these choices show an effort to describe trends and compare figures. However, spelling errors and inaccurate or unnatural word combinations are frequent enough to make parts of the response difficult to understand. Examples include “peaple,” “interisting,” “spanding,” and “persontage.” Some expressions also use the wrong meaning: “weekly time income” and “spending time” do not describe the chart, which reports weekly income spent. Build a more reliable set of task-specific terms, such as “share of weekly income,” “expenditure,” and “accounted for,” and check spelling and collocations before finishing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You make some attempts to combine ideas, for example with “however” and “if we look to other weekly spending,” but the range of sentence structures is limited and errors occur frequently. The opening sentence has subject–verb disagreement and an unclear time construction: “The bar chart show … incomefrom between 1968 to 2018.” Other examples include “most of people are,” “the fuel and power that are,” and “leisure are the first.” These errors affect agreement, articles, verb forms, and sentence clarity. Practise writing accurate simple comparisons first, then add subordinate clauses. For example: “Food accounted for 35% of spending in 1968, whereas its share fell to 17% in 2018.”

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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