Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-08-21

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The chart below shows the percentage of households in owned and rented accommodation in England and Wales between 1918 and 2011.

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The bar chart compares the percentage of households that owned and rented accommodation in England and Whales in 1918 and 2011.

Overall home ownership increased considerably, while renting followed the opposite trend. the two figures were almost equal in 1971.

In 1918, only about 22% of households owned their homes, Whereas nearly 78% rented accommodation. In 1938 and 1953, ownership rose slightly to around 325, while the percentage of renters fell to about 68%.

The number of homeowners then increased to about approximately 425 in 1961. In 1971, the figures from ownerships and rented then close to 50%. After this, home

ownership continued to rise, reaching about 60% in 1981 and nearly 70% in 1991.

In 2001, ownership reached its highest point at around 70%, while renting dropped to about 30%. However, in 2011, ownership fell slightly to approximately 65% and renting increased to 35%.

Overall, owning became much more popular than renting over time.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers all parts of the task and identifies the main trends, such as the inverse relationship between home ownership and renting. You successfully highlight the key data points, including the crossover point in 1971 and the peak in 2001. However, there are significant data transcription errors that impact accuracy. For instance, you wrote '325' and '425' instead of '32%' and '42%'. These errors suggest a lack of careful proofreading, which prevents the response from reaching a higher band. To improve, ensure that all figures are transcribed correctly from the chart to your text.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a concluding summary. The progression of ideas is easy to follow, moving chronologically through the data. You use some cohesive devices like 'Overall', 'In 1918', and 'However' to link your ideas. However, the paragraphing is slightly disjointed, and some transitions are a bit mechanical. To improve, try to vary your linking phrases and ensure that each paragraph has a clear thematic focus, such as grouping the early years versus the later years more distinctly.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'considerably', 'opposite trend', and 'highest point'. There are some minor errors in word choice and spelling, such as 'Whales' instead of 'Wales' and 'ownerships' used incorrectly. While these errors do not impede communication, they indicate a need for more precision. To reach a higher band, focus on using more sophisticated collocations and ensure accurate spelling of proper nouns and technical terms related to data description.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, which is appropriate for this task. There are several grammatical slips, such as 'the figures from ownerships and rented then close to 50%', which is syntactically awkward. Additionally, there are capitalization errors (e.g., 'the two figures' starting with a lowercase letter). While these errors rarely impede the overall meaning, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. Focus on subject-verb agreement and consistent capitalization to improve your accuracy.

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

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