Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

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

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 given chart portrays the annual income of US households how much most families earn each year and what's the common income each year among the houses.

In year 2007 around 25 million houses had income less than 25,000$, while 27 million houses had annual income around 25-49,000$, and houses with an income of 75-99,000$ were around 20 million, and over 30 million houses had income more than 100,000$.

In year 2011 income of most houses stayed the same while there was a noticeable increase in houses with an income less than 25,000$ which was around 29 million. After 4 years in 2015 income of most houses stayed same but the houses with an income more than 100,000$ increases upto 34 million houses.

As we can see the houses with income around 50-74,000$ and 75-99,000$ had no major improvements in their annual income. While the houses with already higher income and the lowest showed gradual changes over the years.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers the main features of the chart, such as the trends in income categories over the three years. However, the analysis is somewhat superficial. While you identify some figures, you fail to provide a clear overview or a summary of the most significant trends. The description of the data is repetitive, and the lack of a clear 'overview' paragraph makes it difficult to grasp the main patterns at a glance. To improve, ensure you group data logically rather than listing figures year by year, and provide a clear summary of the overall shifts in household income distribution.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organised into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is quite mechanical and repetitive (e.g., 'In year 2007', 'In year 2011', 'After 4 years in 2015'). There is a lack of sophisticated linking words to connect ideas within and between sentences. The progression of information is somewhat disjointed, particularly in the final paragraph, where the comparison between income groups could be more clearly linked to the previous data points. Improving the variety of transition signals would enhance the flow.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks range and precision. You rely heavily on basic terms like 'houses', 'income', and 'stayed the same'. There is little attempt to use more academic or precise terminology related to data description, such as 'fluctuated', 'remained stable', 'witnessed a surge', or 'proportion'. Some phrasing is slightly unnatural, such as 'common income each year among the houses'. To reach a higher band, try to incorporate more varied synonyms and collocations relevant to describing statistical trends.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors. For example, there are issues with article usage ('In year 2007' should be 'In 2007'), subject-verb agreement ('income... increases' should be 'increased'), and punctuation. The phrasing 'how much most families earn each year and what's the common income' is informal and grammatically awkward for an academic report. While the meaning is generally clear, the frequency of these errors limits the score. Focus on mastering basic sentence construction and proofreading for tense consistency.

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

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