Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-17
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 given bar illustrates the number of households in the US by their annual income. The data pertains to the year 2007, 2011 and 2015. Overall, the graph represents the number of households in each year by there annual income group. The income catagory of $100,000 or more have the highest numbers of households at approximately, 37 million in 2020, while, income group of $75,000 to $99,999 have the lowest numbers of households at around, 14 million in year 2011.
On a cursory look, it becomes evident that in year 2007 and 2015, income group of $100,000 have the highest numbers of households. On the other hand, the income category of $125,000 to $49,999 have the highest figure at nearly, 30 million in 2011.
In contrast, the income category of $75,000 to $99,999 have the lowest numbers of the household in all the years for instance, in 2007 it was approximately, 14 million. Similarly, in year 2011 it was around 13 million and in 2015 it was near 15 million.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 4.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.5
The student attempts to address the prompt by discussing income categories and years, but the response contains severe data inaccuracies and confusion. For instance, the student states that the income group of $100,000 or more had 'approximately, 37 million in 2020' (the year 2020 is not even in the chart, and the true figure for 2015 is 33.5 million). Furthermore, the student refers to an income category of '$125,000 to $49,999' which is nonsensical and misreads the '$25,000-$49,999' bracket. While an overview is attempted in the introduction, the inaccurate referencing of years and distorted figures means the main features are not reliably reported. This corresponds to a Band 4.5 level of task achievement due to the significant reliance on invented or misread data.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The text is organized into paragraphs, starting with an introductory sentence and followed by body paragraphs. However, the progression of ideas is hindered by repetitive phrasing and confusing links. The student uses cohesive phrases such as 'On a cursory look', 'On the other hand', and 'In contrast', but their mechanical application does not always logically connect the contrasting data points correctly. Paragraphing is attempted, but because the central comparisons are muddled by incorrect statistics, the overall logical flow is weakened, leading to a Band 5.0 score.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is very basic and repetitive, frequently reusing terms like 'income category', 'numbers of households', and 'highest numbers'. There are also significant lexical errors, such as 'there annual income' (instead of 'their'), 'catagory', and the creation of an impossible bracket '$125,000 to $49,999'. The range of vocabulary is limited and inadequate for a precise academic summary. While some topic-related terms like 'households' and 'annual income' appear, the frequent word-choice errors place this performance at a Band 5.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
Grammatical control is weak throughout the response. There are frequent errors in subject-verb agreement and basic grammar, such as 'the income catagory... have' (should be 'has'), 'the income category of $75,000 to $99,999 have', and 'lowest numbers of the household'. Punctuation is also problematic, with intrusive and unnecessary commas separating subjects from verbs and modifiers from heads, such as 'at approximately, 37 million' and 'around, 14 million'. The range of structures is limited mostly to simple and faulty complex sentences, resulting in a Band 5.0.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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