Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-11-03

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 4.0)

The bar chart illusrates the propartion of households in owned and rented accommodation in England and Wales from 1918 to 2011.

Ovearall, it can be clearly seen that the people showed high interest on rented house in start of the period and lees interest in owned it, whereas in last of the time duretion people showed lees interest in rented house and high interest in owned house

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.0

You identify the chart’s subject and period, and your overview captures its central contrast: renting was more common at the beginning, while owning was more common near the end. However, the response is far too brief to summarise the data adequately: it contains 56 words, 94 below the required minimum, and gives no specific figures or comparisons across the years. It also misses important features, including the point in 1971 when ownership and renting were equal, the steady rise in ownership to 69% in 2001, and its slight fall by 2011. Develop the overview and support it with selected figures and changes across the period.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

The response has a basic, recognisable structure: an opening sentence identifies the chart, followed by an overview introduced with “Overall.” The contrast between the beginning and end of the period gives the reader a simple organising idea. However, the response stops after these two sentences, so there is no progression through the data or grouping of key stages. The overview’s comparison is also expressed in a long, awkward sentence, making the relationship between the two trends less clear. Add body paragraphs that group relevant years and use clear links such as “by contrast,” “while,” and “from 1971 onwards” to guide the reader through the comparisons.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

You use some relevant task vocabulary, including “bar chart,” “proportion,” “households,” “owned,” and “rented,” so the topic is generally identifiable. However, the range is very limited, and several spelling errors—“illusrates,” “propartion,” “Ovearall,” and “duretion”—reduce accuracy. Some expressions are also unnatural for describing chart data: “showed high interest on rented house” suggests personal preference rather than the percentage of households, and “lees interest in owned it” is unclear. Use precise terms such as “the proportion of households renting accommodation” and “home ownership,” and vary trend language with “rose,” “declined,” “reached a peak,” or “accounted for.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The response includes a basic complex sentence with “whereas,” and the main contrast can be understood. However, grammatical control is limited, with errors in sentence construction and word forms affecting clarity. In “the people showed high interest on rented house,” the subject and verb pattern do not suit the chart, and the article and preposition pattern is faulty. The phrase “in last of the time duretion” also lacks a clear grammatical structure, while “lees interest in owned it” has an unclear pronoun reference. Build accurate, direct sentences such as “In 1918, 77% of households rented their homes, compared with 23% that owned them.” Then use a few varied structures to compare changes over time.

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