Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-11-03

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 4.5)

This chart give information about two families that lives in one country spent their weekly income in 1968 to 2018.

This chart show in 1968 people spend a lot of money on food but now people in 2018 have a lot of options like bread and coffee but money not spend like 1968 peoples . Another comperision housing 1968 people prefer wild house so they spend huge money on house's but 2018 people have a lot of options like hotals and sharing rooms it save money.

in 1968 people use fuel but now it's a time of electric bikes and cars so now people did not spend money on fuel .But in 1968 peoples have no sense of dressing but in 2018 peoples have a lot of options in dressing and maintain their personilty .House goods use almost same in quantity and in 2018 people use taxi and air tickets to go one place to other place so they spend money .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

The response identifies several relevant categories, including food, housing, fuel, clothing, household goods and transport, and it recognises that food spending fell while housing and transport spending rose. However, it does not accurately report the chart’s main comparisons: for example, food fell from about 35% to 17%, while leisure rose from 9% to 22% and became the largest category in 2018. Leisure is omitted, and claims about bread, coffee, hotels, shared rooms, electric vehicles and people’s sense of dressing are not shown by the chart. The response also lacks a clear overview of the most important changes and gives no reliable figures. Focus on describing the data rather than inventing explanations for it.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

There is some basic sequencing through references to 1968 and 2018 and transitions such as “Another comparison” and “But.” The response also moves from food and housing to fuel, clothing and household goods, so the reader can identify some of the categories being discussed. However, it is presented as one long paragraph, with no clear overview or grouping of the main trends. Several ideas run together, and links such as “so” connect unsupported explanations rather than clearly comparing chart values. Organise the report into an introduction, an overview, and one or two paragraphs comparing categories. Use clear links such as “by contrast” and “whereas” to show how the figures changed.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

The response uses a small set of relevant topic words, including “weekly income,” “housing,” “fuel,” “clothing” and “house goods,” which shows some awareness of the chart’s subject. However, vocabulary is basic and repetitive, and several choices are inaccurate or unclear, such as “wild house,” “hotals,” “personilty” and “no sense of dressing.” Phrases such as “a lot of options” and “spend huge money” are informal and do not describe proportions precisely. Use standard chart language and accurate category names, for example “accounted for,” “share,” “expenditure” and “rose/fell from … to …”. Avoid adding specific examples that the visual does not provide.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The response attempts to connect ideas in longer sentences, for example with “but,” “so” and “in 2018,” and some basic meaning can be followed. However, sentence structures are very limited and errors are frequent, sometimes making relationships difficult to understand. Examples include “This chart give information,” “two families that lives,” and “people spend,” where subject–verb agreement or verb forms are incorrect. Tense and sentence boundaries are also inconsistent, as in “now people did not spend money on fuel .But…” Practise accurate simple comparison sentences first, such as “Food accounted for 35% in 1968, compared with 17% in 2018,” then combine them using correctly punctuated contrast clauses.

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

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