Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-22

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 bar chart provides a detailed comparison regarding the number of households in the US by their annual income in 2007, 2011 and 2015. Overall, it has demonstrated slight fluctuation in the recent years. Number of households have been categorized into various categories based on ther annual income.

In 2007, households coming under the income bracket of $100,000 or above were the highest accounting slighlty less than 30 million in terms household whereas households coming under the category of $75000 to $99000 were the lowest among other categories in that year.

US households with annual income more than $25000 and less than $50000 were the highest and the lowest were households with annual income more than $75000 in the year 2011. As for year 2015, household income of less than $25000 were the highest accounting to more than 30 million while the number of household with annual income $75000 have significantly increased than 2011 but still its the lowest in the year 2015.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student attempts to address the task by summarizing the main features of the US household income chart for the years 2007, 2011, and 2015. However, there are notable inaccuracies in reporting the data. For instance, the writer states that in 2007 households earning $100,000 or more were 'slighlty less than 30 million' (the chart shows 29.5 million, which is acceptable), but for 2011, the highest category is incorrectly identified as $25,000–$49,999 (29.5 million) when households earning 'Less than $25,000' actually reached 28.5 million and $100,000+ was 27.5 million, while another major group was 29.5 million. Furthermore, the overview sentence claims the chart 'has demonstrated slight fluctuation in the recent years,' which is somewhat vague and misses a clearer summary of the overarching trends. Overall, the response addresses the prompt but suffers from imprecise data reporting and a limited overview.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The response has a basic overall structure, opening with an introduction and attempting to group information by year in the body paragraphs. However, paragraphing is somewhat cramped, with the main body squeezed into two dense paragraphs that lack clear, logical progression between years. Cohesive devices are used mechanically or are missing entirely, leading to choppy transitions between sentences (e.g., jumping abruptly from 2007 details into 2011 without transitional phrases). Pronoun referencing and substitution are occasionally weak, such as using 'its' or ambiguous pronouns without clear antecedents. While the text is readable, the organizational structure falls short of a smooth, logical flow expected at higher bands.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates a sufficient vocabulary range to communicate basic information about the chart, utilizing terms like 'annual income,' 'bracket,' and 'categories.' However, there are several spelling errors ('slighlty,' 'ther' instead of 'their') and awkward lexical choices or phrasing (e.g., 'accounting slighlty less than 30 million in terms household' instead of 'accounting for slightly less than 30 million households'). Attempts to use less common vocabulary are limited, and repetition of words like 'highest,' 'lowest,' and 'households' restricts lexical variety. The vocabulary is adequate for basic task completion, but errors in word formation and spelling prevent it from reaching a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as introductory subordinate clauses ('In 2007, households coming under the income bracket...'). However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are issues with subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'Number of households have been categorized' should be 'has been categorized'; 'the lowest were households' vs singular matching). Article usage and prepositions are occasionally faulty ('in terms household,' 'accounting to more than 30 million'). While some sentences are clear, frequent minor errors in grammar and punctuation mean that error-free sentences are in the minority. These slips do not entirely impede communication, but they restrict the score to a band 5.5.

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

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