Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-11

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 bar chart provide information about the number of households income at the period from 2007 to 2015 every four years in the US.

Overall, the number of incomes looks steady without any dramatically rose in each year. For the example, at the beginning the incomes looks average, and didnt had very big difference, except $75,000-$99,999. However, at the end, the number of households, households, didnt significantly changed.

In 2007, the number of households which income were less than $25,000 were 25 million, and after 4 years bar rose steadily to about 28 million. However, the number of families in 2015 dropped to over 26 million. The number of households with income from $25,000 to $49,999, in 2007 were over 26 million. After some amount of time, the bar rose to about 29 million families, and by the end of the period, it decreased to over 27 million.

At the begining, the number of households which income were from $50,000 to $74,999, were much lesser than other two incomes and had over 20 million. After 4 years it rose steadily to 22 million, and after another 4 years it felt to 20 million again. In addition, the number of families with an income from $75,000 to $99,999 were the smallest in comparison with other 3 incomes, , In 2007 it had over 14 million families, and didnt grew until 2015. At the end it increased to about 15 million. In contrast, the number of households with an income from $100,000 and more, were the highest in comparison with other incomes. In 2007 it had over 29 million families, but in 2014 it had decreased to over 27 million. And in 2015 it dramatically rose to over 34 million families.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

You have successfully identified the main features of the chart and provided relevant comparisons. You covered all income categories and years, which is a strength. However, the overview is somewhat weak; it lacks a clear summary of the most significant trends, such as the overall dominance of the highest income bracket by 2015. Additionally, there are some inaccuracies in data reporting (e.g., mentioning 2014 when the chart only shows 2007, 2011, and 2015). To improve, ensure your overview highlights the most striking differences or changes rather than just stating that things look 'steady'.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is organized into logical paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the information. You use some cohesive devices like 'In addition', 'However', and 'In contrast' to link ideas. However, the flow is occasionally disrupted by repetitive phrasing and some awkward transitions. For instance, the phrase 'After some amount of time' is vague and unnatural in an academic report. The paragraphing is sufficient, but the internal cohesion within paragraphs could be improved by using a wider variety of linking words and avoiding repetitive sentence structures.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, but it is somewhat repetitive and lacks precision. You frequently use basic verbs like 'rose' and 'dropped' without much variation. There are also some minor errors in word choice, such as 'number of households income' instead of 'number of households by income' and 'felt' instead of 'fell'. To reach a higher band, try to incorporate more sophisticated vocabulary related to data trends, such as 'fluctuated', 'remained stable', or 'surpassed'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, particularly with subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'the given bar chart provide', 'incomes looks average') and pluralization ('households, households'). You also struggle with tense consistency and article usage. While you attempt some complex sentence structures, they are often marred by these errors, which occasionally makes the meaning slightly unclear. Focusing on basic sentence construction and proofreading for subject-verb agreement would significantly improve your score.

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