Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · 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 4.0)

The bar chart illustrates that the proportion of households in US and the final income in 2007, 2011 and 2015.

Overall, it is clear that in 2015 their is a dramatically change its households. While, in 2007 minimal change in its households. In 2011 shows that lowest figure in all of that years.

According to the bar chart, year of 2015 played a vital role in US annual income households because 2015 reached at the 100,000 dollar was the highest annual income. As same as in all these year 50,000 dollars to 74,999 dollars in that time all the annual comes stop on 22 number.

But in other situations, 2011 moves to the 30,000 dollars that is steadily higher than in 2007 and 2015, also the annual income in 2011 moves to 50,000 dollar and 2007 in compartively lower than in all of them. So, the 2015 shows the highest annual income between 2007, 2011 and 2015.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.5

The response attempts to address the chart, but it fails to accurately report the main features and makes numerous incomprehensible statements about the data. Phrases like 'in 2015 their is a dramatically change its households' and claiming that the $50,000 to $74,999 category 'stop on 22 number' demonstrate a severe misinterpretation of the visual information. The overview is weak, confused, and fails to give a clear summary of the overall trends. Many of the comparisons drawn in the body paragraphs are inaccurate or incoherent relative to the provided chart. According to the descriptors, the task is only partially addressed with under-developed and unclear ideas, placing it at Band 4.5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0

The essay lacks clear logical organization and progression throughout. While the student attempts to use paragraph breaks and transition words such as 'Overall', 'According to the bar chart', and 'But in other situations', the flow of ideas is frequently disrupted by incoherent sentences and poor referencing (e.g., 'As same as in all these year...'). Paragraphing is poorly handled, with single-sentence paragraphs and abrupt topic shifts that make it difficult to follow the development of ideas. Repetitive phrasing ('annual income in 2011 moves to...') further diminishes the overall coherence. This performance aligns with Band 4.0 descriptors for cohesion and logical sequencing.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.0

The vocabulary used is very basic, repetitive, and frequently incorrect. The student relies heavily on simple words and produces awkward collocations or meaningless phrases such as 'final income', 'dramatically change its households', and 'highest annual income between 2007, 2011 and 2015'. There are also frequent issues with word forms (e.g., 'compartively' instead of comparatively). The range of vocabulary is limited to what is strictly necessary to talk about numbers and years, and lexical inaccuracies often strain the reader's understanding, fitting the Band 4.0 criteria.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

The response exhibits a very limited range of grammatical structures, consisting mostly of simple and attempted complex sentences that are consistently faulty. There are major grammatical errors throughout, including subject-verb agreement issues ('their is a dramatically change'), incorrect verb tenses ('2015 reached at the 100,000 dollar'), and nonsensical clause structures ('While, in 2007 minimal change in its households'). Punctuation and sentence boundaries are often misused, causing frequent disruptions to meaning. These persistent, dense errors heavily impede communication and correspond to a Band 4.0 score.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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