Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-08-05

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The chart below shows the number of households in the US by their annual income in 2007, 2011 and 2015.

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The bar chart displays the data about the number of households in the United States by their annual income in 2007, 2011, and 2015.

Overall, it can be seen that the most of the households had an income above 100,000 dollars. While, the least number of households had an income between $75,000 and $99,999 throughout the period.

In 2007, almost 25 million households had an income less than 25,000 dollars. This figure rose to around 28 million in 2011 and fell slightly to almost 26 million in 2015. However, people earned between 25,000 and 49,999 dollars held almost 26 million households, which escalated to around 30 million in 2011 and plunged to almost 28 million in 2015. For the $50,000 - $74,999 group, held almost 20 million households in 2007, which remained uniform throughout the period.

On the other hand, group earned between 75,000 and 99,999 dollars held approximately 14 million households, which slightly declined to around 13 million and further reached 15 million in 2015. Nevertheless, group earned 100,000 dollars and above in the US, held almost 29 million households, which fell to 27 million in 2011 and peaked to 33 million in 2015.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers all parts of the task and provides a clear overview of the main trends. You successfully identified the key features, such as the dominance of the highest income bracket and the relative stability of the middle-income groups. However, the overview is slightly inaccurate; you stated that 'most' households had an income above $100,000, but the data shows this is only true for 2015, not the entire period. Additionally, some data points are described with slight inaccuracies, such as the claim that the $50,000–$74,999 group remained 'uniform' when there were minor fluctuations. To improve, ensure your summary accurately reflects the data across all years mentioned.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, overview, and body paragraphs. You use cohesive devices such as 'While,' 'However,' and 'On the other hand' to connect ideas. However, some transitions are slightly mechanical or misused, such as starting a sentence with 'While,' which creates a fragment. The referencing is generally clear, but the flow between sentences could be improved by varying the structure of your comparisons. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the different income groups, which helps the reader follow the information easily.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'escalated,' 'plunged,' and 'remained uniform.' However, there are some awkward collocations and word choices that hinder precision. For example, saying 'people earned between... held almost 26 million households' is grammatically and lexically incorrect; households do not 'hold' income, nor do people 'hold' households in this context. You should focus on using more precise verbs like 'accounted for' or 'represented' when describing statistical data to improve the professional tone of your writing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent errors in grammar and syntax. For instance, 'the most of the households' is incorrect (remove 'the'), and 'group earned between' is missing a determiner (e.g., 'the group earning'). There are also issues with subject-verb agreement and preposition usage throughout the text. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to lower the score. Focusing on basic sentence construction and ensuring that subjects and verbs agree will help improve your accuracy.

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

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