Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-10-10

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 bar chart illustrates the proportion of families in owned and rented house in England and wales from 1918 to 2011.

Overall, the propotion households in owned accommodation follwed an upward trend over the peroid of time, whereas households in rented accommodation showed an downward, despite slight fluctuation.

Familes who live in an own house, around 80% people lived in an owned accommodation in 1918, recorded the far high figure and slightly decreased and levelled off at approxmately 70% in 1939 and 1953. gradually declined to just below 60% in 1971 and 50% in 1971, followed downward trend untill 2001 and remained at 31% before rising to above 35% in 2011.

Familes in rented households, starting off at slightly above 20% in 1918 and marginally increased to 31% in 1939 and remained relatively stable till 1953. This figure sharply rose to 60% in 1981 and skyrocketed to around 70% in 1991 and 2001 respectively , dropped to just above 65% in 2011.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.5

The response identifies the two categories and attempts an overview, but the main trends and figures are repeatedly reversed or misreported, so the chart is not reliably summarised. For example, ownership began at about 23%, not 80%, and rose overall to a peak of roughly 69% in 2001 before falling to 64% in 2011. Renting followed the opposite pattern, declining from about 77% to 31% before recovering to 36%. The body paragraphs assign these figures and movements to the wrong categories, and the stated changes around 1971 and 1981 do not match the data. To improve, check each series against the chart, then report the overall crossover around 1971 and the later peak and reversal accurately.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview and separate paragraphs for the two accommodation types. This gives the response some organisation, and phrases such as “Overall” and “whereas” signal comparison. However, the progression is weakened because the body paragraphs describe the categories inaccurately and sometimes move between years without a clear sequence. The first body paragraph also repeats “1971” and uses “followed downward trend” without making the timeline easy to follow. Use one paragraph for ownership and one for renting, moving chronologically through each series, and use clear links such as “By contrast” and “After reaching a peak in 2001” to guide the reader.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The response uses some task-relevant vocabulary, including “proportion,” “upward trend,” “levelled off,” and “remained relatively stable.” These choices show an attempt to describe change rather than simply list figures. However, spelling and word-choice errors are noticeable, including “propotion,” “follwed,” “pero id,” and “Familes,” and some expressions are unnatural, such as “the far high figure” and “skyrocketed” for a gradual chart movement. “Families” is also less precise than “households” in this context. Aim for accurate spelling and conventional chart language, for example “reached a peak,” “declined steadily,” and “accounted for.” This would make the description clearer and more appropriately formal.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple and more complex forms, including the contrast in “whereas households in rented accommodation showed…” and clauses beginning “before rising.” However, grammatical control is inconsistent. The overview has missing articles and an awkward construction (“the propotion households”), while “Familes who live in an own house” has problems with article use and sentence structure. Several body sentences are fragments or lack a clear subject, as in “gradually declined to just below 60%,” and the repeated year in “50% in 1971” makes the sentence harder to interpret. Work on complete sentences, articles, subject–verb agreement and consistent past-tense reporting. Separating long sequences of changes into shorter, complete sentences will also improve accuracy.

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