Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-10-06

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 chart illustrates the proportion of families lived in their own or rented houses in England and Wales from 1918 to 2011.

Overall, the percentage of households having their own houses increased gradually over the period. However, the families lived in leased accommodations decreased significantly.

In 1918, almost a peak of 78% residential were living in let homes while, these figures declined noticeably and until 2001 and reached at its minimal value at just 31%. The value rose by 6% and finally ended at 37%.

In 1918, just 23% people had their personal homes in England and Wales. Whereas, these figures climbed massively over the given period. In 1971, the households owning their houses or rental houses were at idectical percentage at 50%. From 1991 to 2001, the families showed stangant results for purchasing houses. In 2001,the percentile of the households lived in their own homes dropped by 5% and utilmately reached at approximately 64%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response successfully covers all parts of the task by reporting the main features and making relevant comparisons between households in owned and rented accommodation in England and Wales between 1918 and 2011. An overview is presented early in the second paragraph, capturing the general upward trend for homeownership and the downward trend for renting. However, some aspects are less fully developed or contain minor inaccuracies in data interpretation. For instance, the final data points and specific trends, such as the peak of renting in 1918 and the crossing point in 1971, are mentioned, but some details are slightly misstated compared to the visual data. To reach a higher band, the reporting of figures must be completely accurate and key trends should be extended with more precise comparisons across the time span.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay has a coherent overall arrangement and follows a logical structure, moving from an introduction and overview to body paragraphs detailing the specific trends for rented and owned accommodation. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different ideas. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. For example, the transition phrases and logical connectors between sentences can feel abrupt, and referencing is not always completely clear, such as the use of 'these figures' which occasionally creates ambiguity regarding which category is being discussed. To improve, you should employ a wider range of cohesive devices more flexibly and ensure that the progression of ideas from one sentence to the next is smoother and more natural.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common terms such as 'proportion', 'accommodation', and 'stagnant'. However, there are noticeable errors in word choice, collocation, and word form throughout the response, such as writing 'residential' instead of 'residents', 'idectical' instead of 'identical', and 'percentile' instead of 'percentage'. Spelling and word-formation errors, like 'stangant' and 'utilmately', also appear. These errors do not seriously impede communication, placing the response comfortably at this level. To achieve a higher band, you need to expand your lexical repertoire, improve your control over word forms, and eliminate spelling mistakes through careful proofreading.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures like relative clauses and comparative constructions. However, there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation that impact the overall accuracy. Examples include awkward relative clauses ('families lived in their own or rented houses' instead of 'families living...'), preposition errors ('reached at its minimal value'), and article misuse ('almost a peak of 78% residential were living'). While these errors rarely completely impede communication, they persist across the text. To move to a higher band, you must increase the frequency of error-free sentences, improve your control over verb tenses, articles, and prepositions, and refine your complex sentence structures.

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

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