Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-16
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 5.0)
The chart compares the number of homes in millions, owned by US citizens according to their annual salary in 2007, 2011 and 2015.
The majority of the households are bought by the people having the highest amount of income alongside displaying the most significant increase by the end of the timeframe. Although, other numbers illustrate a stable trend.
Citizens earning more than 100,000 dollars had approximately 29 millions of houses in 2007 that reached to approximately 33 millions. People who earned below this amount and bigger than 75,000 dollars couldn't afford to inrease their properties as they remained in the range of 14 to 15 millions of houses during these years.
For those who could earn between 50,000 dollars and 75,000 dollars, showed a firm grip to their number of belongings for living, located at the range of approximately 21 millions of houses. Those who could managed to make 25,000 dollars to 49,000 dollars per year, had about 27 to 28 millions of houses by the end of 2015. Below this income, people kept almost the same amount of houses as the former income-class people could manage.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The student covers most parts of the task by selecting key trends, such as the highest income bracket showing the most significant increase and other categories remaining relatively stable. However, there are some inaccuracies and misinterpretations of the data. For instance, the text claims that households earning more than $100,000 started at 'approximately 29 millions of houses in 2007 that reached to approximately 33 millions' (the actual figures were 29.5 and 33.5 million, which is acceptable), but other descriptions are slightly vague or imprecise, such as stating people remained in the range of '14 to 15 millions' or describing the $50k-$74k bracket as a 'firm grip to their number of belongings for living.' The overview is also rather weak, lacking a comprehensive summary of the overall trends. Therefore, the response achieves a Band 5.5.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The response is organized into paragraphs, with an introduction and body paragraphs attempting to group income categories logically. However, the progression is sometimes disjointed, and the cohesive devices used are awkward or mechanical. Phrases like 'Although, other numbers illustrate a stable trend' are used inappropriately at the start of sentences, and transitions between the body paragraphs lack smooth logical links. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the final sentence ('Below this income, people kept almost the same amount of houses as the former income-class people could manage'), which makes it hard to follow the exact comparison being made. Paragraphing is present but under-developed. These issues place the response firmly at Band 5.0.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms related to income, brackets, and numbers. However, there are frequent inappropriate word choices and awkward collocations that reflect a limited and unnatural command of lexical items. Examples include 'number of homes in millions, owned by US citizens according to their annual salary' (instead of income), 'bought by the people having the highest amount of income', 'firm grip to their number of belongings for living', and 'former income-class people'. These noticeable errors and non-standard phrasing occasionally cause some difficulty for the reader and restrict the score to Band 5.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over grammar is weak, leading to frequent errors. Examples of structural and grammatical errors include: 'reached to approximately 33 millions' (incorrect use of the passive/active preposition 'reached to' with an 'ed' ending), 'People who earned below this amount and bigger than 75,000 dollars' ('bigger' is the wrong adjective for a monetary value), and 'Those who could managed to make' (incorrect verb tense following a modal). Punctuation and phrasing often feel unnatural. Because these errors occur frequently and occasionally impede smooth reading, the grammar is characteristic of Band 5.0.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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