Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-05
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 exhibits data about how families in the United States of America consume their annual salary on number of households in 2007, 2011 and 2015.
Overall, there are significant changes in spending patterns that occurred in 2007, 2011 and 2015, with noticeable changes in the categories of number of households.
The lower class families, whose income is less than $25000, spent 25 million number of households in 2007 while, in 2011 and 2015, this figure increased steadily and approximately to less than 30 million. In contrast, the middle class families in the US utilized approximately less than 30 million households in 2007, 2011 and 2015.
Regarding, the higher-upper class families, spent approximately less than 15 million number of households according to their annual income in 2007, 2011 and 2015. With regards to higher class families, the number of households was almost same in averaging below 25 million in the years 2007, 2011 and 2015. Regarding, the elite class families, spent less than 30 million in the years of 2007 and 2011 while, in contrast it increased up to 33 million in the year of 2015.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response attempts to summarize the data, but it fails to accurately interpret the chart. The student repeatedly uses the phrase 'number of households' as a unit of measurement for income, which is a fundamental misunderstanding of the task. The chart displays the number of households (in millions) on the y-axis and income brackets on the x-axis; the student describes these as 'families consuming their salary', which is factually incorrect. Furthermore, the categorization of income groups (e.g., 'elite class') is not supported by the provided data labels. While the main features are identified, the misinterpretation of the data significantly impacts the accuracy of the report.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organized into an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs. However, the progression of ideas is hindered by the inaccurate data reporting. Cohesive devices such as 'In contrast', 'Regarding', and 'With regards to' are used, but they are often placed awkwardly or used repetitively. The paragraphing is logical, but the internal flow within paragraphs is mechanical. The referencing is sometimes unclear, particularly when the student attempts to link income groups to the number of households, leading to confusion for the reader.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary is limited and often inappropriate for an academic report. The student uses 'consume their annual salary' and 'utilized... households' incorrectly, as these phrases do not make sense in the context of the chart. There is a reliance on basic descriptors like 'lower class', 'middle class', and 'higher-upper class', which are not standard terms for income brackets. The repetition of 'number of households' throughout the text indicates a lack of lexical variety and a failure to use precise terminology to describe statistical trends.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The response contains a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, such as 'The bar chart exhibits data about how families... consume their annual salary on number of households', which is syntactically flawed. There are also issues with preposition usage and punctuation, such as the unnecessary comma after 'Regarding'. While the meaning is generally discernible, the frequency of errors in basic sentence construction and the misuse of terminology prevent the response from reaching a higher band.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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