Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-20
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 illustrates the number of households in the United States by their annual income in the year of 2007, 2011 and 2015
In the chart we can clearly see the people who earned $75,000 - $99,999 annually had almost same the number of households approximately 15 millions in all the mentioned years. However, in the year of 2015 most number of households recorded that were 34 millions by the people who had annual income of $100,000.
In the year 2007, annual income of $75,000 - $99,999 had lowest the number of households which were 14 millions and most number of household were 29 millions by the people of annual inncome of $100,000. In the year 2011, people with reduced number of households were the same as in 2007 year, but the highest number of households were 30 millions in that year by the people of annual income of $25,000 - $49,000.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The student attempts to address the prompt by selecting some key features and making comparisons between the income brackets and years. However, there are significant factual inaccuracies in the data reported. For instance, the student states that in 2015 the highest number of households was 34 million for those earning $100,000, whereas the chart shows 33.5 million, but more problematically, the overview lacks a clear summary of overall trends, such as the general rise in higher-income brackets. Furthermore, the selection of data is somewhat disjointed, focusing heavily on isolated figures rather than overarching patterns. According to the band descriptors, this falls into the Band 5 to 6 range, as it addresses the task partially with some inaccurate reporting of data.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The response is divided into paragraphs, which is a positive feature, but the progression of ideas is often confusing. The student uses basic cohesive devices like 'However' and 'In the year', but referencing and logical flow are frequently disrupted by awkward phrasing. For example, sentences like 'In the year 2007, annual income of $75,000 - $99,999 had lowest the number of households' lack smooth transitions and create mechanical cohesion. Paragraphing is attempted, but the internal structure of the paragraphs does not always lead the reader clearly through the data comparisons. This performance aligns with Band 5 due to repetitive and sometimes faulty cohesive devices and a lack of clear overall progression.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The student uses a limited and repetitive range of vocabulary, heavily relying on basic terms such as 'number of households', 'annual income', and 'years'. There are numerous word choice and collocation errors throughout the response, such as 'had lowest the number of households', 'most number of household were', and 'inncome'. Attempts to use less common vocabulary are unsuccessful due to awkward phrasing and incorrect word forms. While communication is not entirely blocked, the lexical shortcomings restrict the response to a Band 5, as the vocabulary is minimally adequate and contains noticeable errors.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over grammar and sentence structure is weak. There are frequent grammatical errors, including missing articles ('had lowest the number', 'most number of household'), incorrect prepositions, and awkward word order ('the people who earned... had almost same the number'). Many complex structures are faulty, causing difficulty for the reader and obscuring meaning at times. The frequency of structural and grammatical errors places this response firmly at Band 5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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