Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-01

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 illustrates the proportioin of British families buying or renting accommodation from 1918 to 2011. Overall, it is clear that owning and renting accommodation in England witnessed inverse relation. The trend of owned accomodation steadily dropped substantially, conversely the families rented house experienced overall growth over the period.

Looking at the families that rented house, in 1981 nearly 80% of British rented accommodation, however the percentage started to fall noticably from 1918, since then it dropped to 50% in 1971 when the protion of owning house also the same. In 2001 the percentage of renting house dropped to over 30%, before climbing to about 35% in 2011.

Looking at the families that owned house, the percentage was the lowest in 1918 about 22% of people owned house. Owning house siginificantly surged from 1918 peaking nearly at 70 % in 2001. Subsequently, it declined in 2001 about 32% portion of people rented house.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response provides a general overview and identifies key trends, such as the inverse relationship between renting and owning. However, the data reporting is inconsistent and contains significant factual inaccuracies. For example, the text states that in 1981 nearly 80% of British rented accommodation, whereas the chart shows this figure closer to 1918. Furthermore, the description of the 2001 data is confusing and contradictory, stating that owning peaked at 70% while simultaneously claiming a decline in the same year. These inaccuracies mean that the information is not accurately reported, which limits the effectiveness of the summary.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. There is an attempt to use cohesive devices like 'Overall', 'conversely', and 'subsequently'. However, the logical flow is hampered by the inaccurate data reporting, which makes the progression of ideas confusing. The referencing is sometimes unclear, particularly in the final paragraph where the transition between the statistics for renting and owning is muddled. While the paragraphing is functional, the internal cohesion is weakened by the lack of clarity in the data presentation.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task, with attempts to use topic-specific language such as 'proportioin' (spelled incorrectly), 'inverse relation', and 'surged'. However, there are frequent spelling errors (e.g., 'accomodation', 'noticably', 'siginificantly') and some awkward phrasing, such as 'the families rented house experienced overall growth'. The vocabulary is sufficient to convey the general topic, but the lack of precision and the recurring spelling mistakes prevent it from reaching a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors throughout, such as missing articles ('rented house' instead of 'rented houses'), incorrect verb forms, and issues with sentence construction (e.g., 'the percentage of renting house dropped to over 30%'). While these errors are noticeable and occasionally make the meaning slightly difficult to follow, they do not completely impede communication. The control over punctuation and basic grammar is inconsistent, which is characteristic of the 5.5 to 6.0 range.

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