Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

The given bar graph illustrates the percentage of owned and rented accomodation in England and Wales between 1918 and 2011.

The percentage of owned accomodation in 19 18 was above 20 percent wheres the rented accomodation ratio was near 80 percent.In year 1939 there was a slight change in the accomodation ratios.The rented accomodation decresed and was below 70 percent while the owned accomodation increased above 30 percent.Both the rented and owned accomodation were the same in 1953 as in 1939.But in 1961 the owned accomodation increased to 40 percent and the rented accomodation again decreased and reached below 60 percent this time.In 1971 both the rented and owned accomodation were equal at 50 percent.In year 1981 the rented accomodation reached 60 percent while the rented accomodation decreaswed to 40 percent.in 1991 the owned accomodation reached near 70 percent and rented accomodation decreased and was slightly above 30 percent.In 2001 there was only a slight increase in owned and alight decrease in rented accomodations.but the year 2011 was different because the owned accomodation decreased a bit and the rented acomodations increased slightly.Ecxept 2011 the owned accomodation ratio increased and the rented accomodation decreased.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.0
Coherence and Cohesion4.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.0

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The student attempts to cover the main trends in the chart from 1918 to 2011, noting the starting and ending points as well as some intermediate figures. However, the response lacks an overview, which is a key requirement for Academic Task 1. Furthermore, there are several inaccuracies in data reporting; for example, the student writes 'in year 1981 the rented accomodation reached 60 percent while the rented accomodation decreaswed to 40 percent' (confusing owned and rented categories). The progression is described chronologically point-by-point rather than synthesised into clear overarching trends, leading to a mechanical listing of data points that limits the development of the response.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.5

The response is presented as a single dense block of text with no paragraphing whatsoever, which severely impacts readability and visual organisation. Cohesive devices are extremely basic and repetitive, mostly relying on chronological time markers like 'In year 1939', 'But in 1961', and 'In 1971'. Referencing is also faulty in places, notably the confusion in 1981 where 'rented' is used twice with contradictory values. While there is a sequential chronological arrangement, the lack of paragraph structure and poor logical progression prevent the response from achieving a higher band.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive, frequently reusing terms such as 'percentage', 'owned', 'rented', and 'accomodation' (which is also consistently misspelled with a double 'm'). There is virtually no attempt to use less common lexical items or synonyms to vary the language, such as 'properties', 'housing', 'proportions', or 'figures'. Word choices are simple and functional, and spelling errors ('accomodation', 'decresed', 'decreaswed', 'alight', 'Ecxept') occur frequently. The lexical range is minimally adequate for the task, but errors and lack of flexibility keep it at Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response features a limited range of sentence structures, consisting almost entirely of simple sentences and basic compound clauses linked with coordinating conjunctions. There are noticeable punctuation and capitalization errors throughout the text, such as missing spaces after periods (e.g., '80 percent.In year', 'ratios.The', 'accomodation.but'), uncapitalized sentence beginnings ('in year 1991'), and run-on sentences. Grammatical errors are frequent, particularly in subject-verb agreement and preposition use, though the meaning is generally decipherable. The heavy reliance on basic structures and persistent punctuation errors place this in the Band 5 category.

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