Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-08-27
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 chart shows the various household groups classified based on their annual income for three different years: 2007, 2011 and 2015.
From the chart, it can be ascertained that minor fluctuations are there in number of household of five different income groups for all three years. In 2007,the households who had the highest income $100,000 or more are the highest in the numbers which refers to approximately 30 million houses. Household own the income of $75,000-$99,000 are lowest in the number, which is approximately half of the highest group was 15 millions. Similar pattern of highest and lowest household numbers followed in remining two years.
In the year 2015, highest annual income group was having the highest number of household and it was 32-33 million houses approximately. While in 2011, highest numbers of families, which were 30 million in numbers received their annual income between $25,000-$49,999 and in the year 2007, 29 million houses got the annually $100,000 or more which were the highest in number for that particular year.
Overall, number of households increase from 2007 to 2015 for all five income group.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response covers the main features of the chart, but the analysis is inconsistent and contains factual inaccuracies. For instance, the claim that the $100,000+ group was the highest in 2007 is contradicted by the data, which shows the $50,000-$74,999 group was higher. Furthermore, the summary statement that households increased for all five groups is not supported by the data, as some categories show a decline between 2007 and 2011. While the response identifies key trends, the lack of precision in reporting figures and the misinterpretation of the data prevent a higher score.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response is organized into paragraphs, but the flow of ideas is somewhat disjointed. While there is an attempt to use cohesive devices like 'In the year 2015' and 'Overall', the transition between sentences is often mechanical. The referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the phrase 'remining two years', which lacks specific context. The logical progression is hindered by the contradictory information provided in the body paragraphs, making it difficult for the reader to follow the comparison of the data sets effectively.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision required for a higher band. There are several awkward phrasings, such as 'minor fluctuations are there in number of household' and 'highest numbers of families, which were 30 million in numbers'. The range of vocabulary is limited, relying on repetitive structures to describe the data. To improve, the student should focus on using more varied reporting verbs and nouns to describe trends, such as 'experienced a decline' or 'remained relatively stable', rather than repeating 'highest' and 'lowest'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Examples include 'the households who had the highest income... are the highest in the numbers' and 'Household own the income of... are lowest in the number'. There are also issues with article usage and pluralization, such as 'in number of household' instead of 'in the number of households'. While the meaning is generally understandable, the frequency of these errors limits the score to a 5.5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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