Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-11-05

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 Charts Illustrates how families spent their weekly income between 1968 to 2018.

The main change I have seen on Food the spending from 35% of weekly is constantly drop down to round about 17 to 18%. On the other side there are only three things which charts shows increasing from 1968 to 2018 is fuel spending, Personal goods and clothing and foot ware.

The weekly income spending is lie between 0 to 35%. People enjoying the trends and events with emotions and joy that's why people more spend on clothes while on the other hand the people don't buy home in past but now people want to live luxury houses that's why spending increasing from 10 to round about 20%. In 2018 the transport spending is also increase so the thing is public want to buy the own transport.

In 2018 the leisure spending is round about 8% but now the spending is 22% so people want to enjoy more in their free time, why people spend because the society changed needs changed and also wants changed .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the largest change: food spending fell from about 35% to 17–18%, and you note that leisure and housing took larger shares in 2018. However, several key details are misreported: fuel, personal goods and clothing all decreased, rather than increased, and leisure was about 9% in 1968 and 22% in 2018—not 8% in 2018. The response also gives unsupported explanations about luxury homes, buying transport and people’s motives; the chart shows spending shares, not why they changed. A clearer overview should accurately summarise the main shifts, including the rise in leisure, housing and transport and the fall in food, clothing, fuel and personal goods, while noting household goods stayed level.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has some paragraphing and attempts to group information, beginning with food and then discussing other categories. However, there is no clear overall progression from an overview to well-organised comparisons. The second paragraph moves from a general range to clothing, housing and transport, while the final paragraph returns to leisure, so the reader has to work to follow the comparisons. Linking phrases such as “On the other side” and “while on the other hand” are repetitive or do not clearly express the relationship between the data. Organise the report around the main increases and decreases, and use accurate references such as “by contrast” or “meanwhile” to connect them.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant chart vocabulary, including “spending,” “weekly income,” “increasing” and “decreasing,” and you attempt to describe approximate figures. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations make the meaning unclear, such as “spending from 35% of weekly,” “constantly drop down” and “the weekly income spending.” Some expressions, including “People enjoying the trends and events with emotions and joy,” are not suitable for a factual chart summary. Spelling and word-form errors such as “foot ware” and “Charts Illustrates” are also noticeable. Use precise terms such as “share,” “accounted for” and “rose/fell,” and avoid adding speculative or emotional language.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts some longer sentences, for example, “In 2018 the transport spending is also increase so the thing is public want to buy the own transport,” but these are often faulty and difficult to follow. There are frequent problems with subject–verb agreement, tense and sentence construction: “The Charts Illustrates” should be “The chart illustrates,” while “spending is also increase” needs a correct past-tense form such as “spending also increased.” Articles and prepositions are also often missing or inaccurate, as in “from 1968 to 2018” and “spending from 35% of weekly.” Sentence boundaries and punctuation need attention, particularly in the final sentence. Practise accurate simple comparisons before combining them into longer sentences.

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