Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-22

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 line graph illustrates the percentage of expenditure in Turkey on five different categories between 1960 and 2000.

Overall, food accounted for the largest proportion of spending throughout most of the period, although its share declined considerably. In contrast, expenditure on clothing increased steadily and became the highest category by 2000. Spending on transport, energy and leisure generally decreased.

In 1960, food represented 35% of total spending, making it by far the largest category. This figure fell gradually to 32% in 1970, 26% in 1980 and 20% in 1990, before reaching 15% in 2000. Leisure also declined, from 20% in 1960 to 12% in 2000.

By comparison, spending on clothing rose consistently, from 9% in 1960 to 12% in 1970 and 15% in 1980. It then increased to 16% in 1990 and 17% in 2000, becoming the largest spending category at the end of the period.

Transport followed a downward trend overall, falling from 10% in 1960 to 3% in 2000, while energy decreased from 5% to just 1%. Thus, by 2000, clothing was the only category whose share of expenditure had increased compared with 1960.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 1.0

The student has completely misidentified the visual data provided in the prompt. The task shows a bar chart regarding households in owned and rented accommodation in England and Wales from 1918 to 2011. However, the student wrote an essay about expenditure in Turkey across five different categories between 1960 and 2000, which is an entirely different dataset and topic. Because the response is completely off-topic and fails to address the actual prompt provided, it cannot receive a passing mark for task achievement under official IELTS criteria.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

Despite the severe content mismatch, the response is internally well-structured and follows a logical organisation typical of an Academic Task 1 response. The student includes an introductory paragraph with an overview, followed by well-sequenced body paragraphs that logically break down the fabricated data. Cohesive devices such as 'In contrast', 'By comparison', and 'Thus' are used appropriately to guide the reader through the text, and paragraphing is handled effectively.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The vocabulary used throughout the essay is well-suited for a Task 1 response, demonstrating a good range of functional language for describing trends and statistical changes. Phrases such as 'accounted for the largest proportion', 'declined considerably', 'increased steadily', and 'followed a downward trend' are employed accurately and naturally, indicating solid lexical competence despite the completely incorrect subject matter.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.5

The response exhibits a strong command of grammatical structures. The student successfully incorporates a variety of complex sentence forms, including subordinate clauses and participial phrases (e.g., 'before reaching 15% in 2000', 'becoming the largest spending category at the end of the period'). The majority of sentences are grammatically error-free, with accurate punctuation and consistent past tense usage for historical data.

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

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