Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-21
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 provided bar chart compares the percentage of households in owned and rented accommodation in England and Wales from 1918 and 2011.
Overall, the percentage of households with owned accommodation experienced upward trend, while the households with rented accommodation faced downward trend. A significant point to note in both accommodations households reached same level in 1981.
According to graph, the percentage of household with owned accommodation was just over 20% in 1918, gradually increase to nearly to 70% by 2001. Before decreasing just over 60% in 2011. Notably, this percentages remained around 30% from 1939 to 1953.
In contrast, there was a steady decline in the percentage of households with rented accommodation, dropping by around 50% over the 83-years period from 1918 to 2001, before rising to nearly 40% in 2011. It is also worth mentioning that the percentage stabilized at around 30% between 1939 and 1953. Households with rented accommodation shows gradually decrease all over the year.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The student covers all parts of the task well, providing an overview and selecting key trends and features from the chart, such as the inversion of owned and rented accommodation percentages and the 1981 intersection point. The overall trend is correctly identified. However, there are a few minor factual slips, such as stating that the rented accommodation percentage dropped by around 50% over the period (when it dropped from 77% to 36% / 31%, which is roughly 40-45 percentage points or about half, but the phrasing is slightly imprecise). Additionally, the final sentence in the conclusion repeats information about the rented trend awkwardly ("Households with rented accommodation shows gradually decrease all over the year"). Overall, the task is addressed well, meriting a Band 6.5.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response is organized into logical paragraphs, beginning with an introduction, followed by an overview paragraph, and then two body paragraphs detailing the specific trends. Cohesive devices such as "Overall", "According to graph", and "In contrast" are used to structure the text, though some transitions are a bit mechanical or lack seamless integration (e.g., "According to graph" missing an article). Paragraphing is logical and helps guide the reader through the data comparisons. However, referencing and cohesive ties within paragraphs could be smoother and more varied to reach a higher band. A Band 6.0 is appropriate here.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms like "percentage", "households", "accommodation", "steady decline", and "stabilized". There are some attempts at less common vocabulary, but word choice and collocation inaccuracies are noticeable (e.g., "experienced upward trend" missing an article, "gradually increase" instead of "gradually increased", "this percentages" instead of "these percentages"). Repetition of phrasing also occurs ("percentage of households with owned/rented accommodation"). These errors do not impede communication, placing the response firmly at Band 6.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and introductory prepositional phrases. However, grammatical errors are frequent throughout the text, particularly with verb tense consistency and articles (e.g., "from 1918 and 2011" instead of "between 1918 and 2011", "gradually increase to nearly to 70%", "Before decreasing just over 60%", and "Households with rented accommodation shows gradually decrease"). These errors sometimes cause stumbling for the reader, though meaning remains recoverable. This fits the Band 5.5 descriptor well.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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