Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-10-08

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)

this chart basically illustrates the percentage of the owned and rented households during the span of 1918 to 2011 in england and wales area specifically.

overall there was a huge shift from renting to owning. in the early 1900s renting was much common than owning,in 1918 the rental rate was around 78 % and there was just 22% people who owned their households.apparently ren ted households leads the chart for almost three decades but since 1961 it started dropping eventually,people starts buying their accomodation instead of rented ones,following that right after decade it became equal,that was basically the end of rental accomodations.owning became more popular by the end of the period,home owners were in the majority.owning trend basically peaked in 2001 where 69% were the homeowners and the remaining ones were still renting.

Finally in 2011 owning accomodation's percentage fall from 69% to 61% altough renting percentage slightly increased to 39 %.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You identify the main pattern accurately: ownership rises overall while renting declines, the two reach parity in 1971, and ownership is highest in 2001 before falling by 2011. The opening and closing figures are also close to the chart, and the overview makes the central comparison clear. This meets the task well, with some detail still needing greater precision: the decline in renting is described as beginning “since 1961,” although it had already fallen from 77% to 68% by 1939, and the 2011 ownership figure is given as 61% rather than about 64%. The claim that 1971 was “the end of rental accommodations” is unclear, since renting continued. More precise reporting of these stages would strengthen the response further.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, a broad overview, and a chronological account ending with the 2011 figures. The contrast between renting and owning is generally easy to follow, and phrases such as “overall” and “Finally” help signal progression. However, most of the information is compressed into one long paragraph, and several ideas run together without clear sentence boundaries, particularly the sequence beginning “apparently rented households leads the chart.” Linking is sometimes mechanical or unclear: “following that right after decade” does not specify which decade, while “that was basically the end” has an uncertain reference. Separate the overview from the detailed comparisons and use clearer transitions to make the progression more controlled.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “percentage,” “rental rate,” “majority,” and “peaked,” so the main trends can be understood. However, the range is limited and several informal or inaccurate expressions reduce precision. “Huge shift” and “basically” are conversational, while “people who owned their households” is less suitable than describing the proportion of households in owner-occupied accommodation. There are also noticeable spelling and word-form errors, including “accomodation,” “ren ted,” and “homeowners” used where “homeowners” as a group is not quite the same as the percentage of households. Aim for consistent, formal chart language and accurate collocations such as “the proportion of households that owned their homes.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts some longer, connected sentences, but control is uneven and errors recur in sentence structure, agreement, tense, and punctuation. For example, “people starts buying” has a subject–verb agreement error, and “rented households leads the chart” also uses incorrect agreement. The opening phrase “during the span of 1918 to 2011” is not formed naturally, while several clauses are joined with commas, as in “eventually, people starts buying,” creating run-on sentences. Capitalisation and spacing around punctuation are also inconsistent. Use shorter, complete sentences where needed, check subject–verb agreement, and maintain past tense when describing the chart’s historical changes. These corrections would make the meaning more consistently clear.

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