Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-24
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 percentage of households that owned and rented accommodation in England and Wales between 1918 and 2011.
Overall, it is clear that the percentage of household owners increased over the period, while the proportion of rented accommodation declined. The two figures became equal in 1971.
On the one hand, in 1918 the number of householders in rented accommodation showed a significant growth by approximately 79 percent in contrast with the percentage of householders having their own residence with only 21 percent. Between 1939 and 1961, the percentage of householders with rented homes declined slightly from 69% to 59%, while the percentage of house owners increased from 31% to 42%. In 1971, both householders showed an equal proportion at 50%.
In contrast, the householders with rental accommodation continued to decline from 40% to 31% till the year 2001 and then increased by 33% in 2011, following that the figure of residents with their own homes continued to increase from 60% to 69% till the year 200, and then fluctuated and showed a slight decrease to 62%.
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 successfully covers all parts of the task, providing an overview of the main trends and making appropriate comparisons where relevant, such as noting that the two figures became equal in 1971. The selected key features are accurate, and the data is generally reported well, such as noting the increase in home ownership from 1918 to 2011. However, there are some minor factual inaccuracies when reporting specific data points, such as stating that rented accommodation was 79 percent in 1918 (when it was around 77%) and claiming figures increased to 33% or decreased to 62% in 2011 which do not match the chart accurately. Despite these minor misreadings of the chart, the overall response addresses the prompt effectively, presenting a clear overview and supporting details throughout.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The response is logically organized with a clear introduction, an overview paragraph, and body paragraphs that attempt to trace the changes chronologically. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction and overview from the body details. Cohesive devices are employed to guide the reader, such as 'Overall', 'On the one hand', and 'In contrast'. However, the referencing and transitional phrasing in the final paragraph become slightly confusing and mechanical, with run-on phrasing like 'following that the figure of residents... continued to increase... and then fluctuated'. This impacts the seamless progression of ideas, keeping the cohesion at a competent rather than fully fluent level.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, successfully utilizing terms like 'percentage', 'households', 'proportion', 'accommodation', 'decline', and 'fluctuated'. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary and synonyms to avoid repetition. However, there are notable word choice inaccuracies and awkward phrasings, such as referring to 'householders in rented accommodation' instead of households, and misusing percentages in places (e.g., 'increased by 33%' instead of reaching 36%). Furthermore, minor lexical slips occur, but communication is not impeded.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The student displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and subordinate structures like 'The bar chart illustrates the percentage of households that owned and rented accommodation...'. There is good control over basic grammatical structures, and punctuation is generally handled well. However, errors are present, particularly in long, complex sentences in the final paragraph where control slips, leading to awkward syntax and run-on structures ('...till the year 2001 and then increased by 33% in 2011, following that the figure of residents... continued to increase... till the year 200, and then fluctuated...'). These errors occur frequently enough in complex sentences to prevent a higher band score.
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