Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-10-02
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 6.5)
The bar chart illustrates information about the rate of households owning and renting accomodation in England and Wales from 1918 to 2011.
Overall, owned houses had a general upward trend, while rented accomodations experienced a decrease throughout the period of time. Owned and rented houses had the same rate in the middle of the 93-year period.
In 1918, the rate of households in owned accomodation was just above 20%,which was significantly lower than rented homes. The rate increased slightly to around 30% in 1939, and remained unchanged until 1953. Afterwards the popularity of owned houses experienced a significant surge until 2001 (just below 70%), and then the rate fell to around 65% in 2011.
Households in rented accomodations were mostly popular in 1918, approximately 86%, before decreasing to less than 70% in 1939. The same trend continued until 1953, before experiencing a dramatic plunge until 2001. At the end of the period, the rate of rented accomodations rose slightly to about 35%, which was the least popular at the time.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 7.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 7.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 6.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 6.5 |
| Overall | 6.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0
The response covers all parts of the task well, providing a clear overview and highlighting key trends and comparisons between owned and rented accommodation over the 93-year period. Main features, such as the inversion of percentages and the cross-over point, are identified. However, there is a minor factual inaccuracy in the body text regarding the starting percentage for rented accommodation in 1918, where it is cited as approximately 86% instead of the accurate figure of around 77%, which slightly prevents the response from reaching a higher band. Overall, the ideas are relevant, and the data is used effectively to support the description, though some minor data over-generalisation occurs.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0
The response demonstrates clear logical organisation and progression throughout. Information is grouped sensibly, starting with an introductory statement, followed by an overall summary paragraph, and then detailed body paragraphs breaking down the trends for both accommodation types. Cohesive devices are used reasonably well, such as 'Overall', 'In 1918', and 'Afterwards', which guide the reader smoothly through the text. Paragraphing is used appropriately, and referencing throughout the response is generally clear, ensuring that the relationships between the data points are easy to follow, meeting all expectations for this level.
Lexical Resource: Band 6.0
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common lexical items such as 'upward trend', 'surge', and 'plunge'. However, there are notable spelling errors and minor inaccuracies in word choice, such as 'accomodation' (misspelled consistently) and referring to the houses as 'most popular' rather than 'most prevalent' or 'highest in proportion'. These occasional lexical errors do not impede communication, but they restrict the score to this band, as more precision and control over less common vocabulary are needed to progress further.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5
The response exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating good control over basic structures and attempting more complex phrasing such as subordinate clauses ('which was significantly lower than rented homes'). There are some errors in grammar and punctuation, such as missing spaces after commas (e.g., '20%,which') and slight awkwardness in prepositional phrases. Nevertheless, these errors are relatively infrequent and rarely impede communication, reflecting a solid foundation with part of the control expected at the next level.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.