Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)
The provided bar chart gives information about the amount of US households by their yearly income in the year 2007,2011 and 2015. The households number are in millions.
Overall, from the illustration, all caterories of income falctuated.
As , in 2007 household numbers of those whose income were less than and $25,000 were 25 millions while in 2011 it risen up to 29 millions and in 2015 it dropped to 27 millions. Additionally, whose income was $25,000 to $49,999, in 2007 it's households numbers were 26 millions then in 2011 it reached at 30 millions, later in 2015 it again dropped to 28 millions. But, income $50,000 to $ 74,999 remained same over the three periods.
Meanwhile, in 2007 the people whose income was between $75,000 to $99,999 their household numbers was 14 millions and in 2011 it was 13 millions while in 2015 it was 15 millions.For, $100,000 to more income individuals households were 29 millions in 2007 while in 2011 it declined at 27 millions but in 2015 it was 33 millions.
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 covers all parts of the task by reporting the main features of the chart across the three specified years. An overview is attempted, stating that all income categories fluctuated. Key data points are selected and reported, such as the highest and lowest figures, and comparisons are made where relevant (e.g., noting that the $50,000 to $74,999 bracket remained stable). However, there are minor inaccuracies in reading the precise numerical values from the chart (for instance, stating that households with incomes less than $25,000 were 25 million in 2007 when the chart shows 25 million, but misstating 2011/2015 figures slightly). Despite these minor data discrepancies, the response successfully addresses the prompt requirements and provides a clear summary of the visual data.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The response has a coherent overall arrangement and follows a logical structure, beginning with an introduction and overview, followed by body details categorised by income groups. However, paragraphing is weak; the entire body of the response is crammed into a single block of text below the introduction rather than being broken into logically structured paragraphs. Cohesive devices are attempted (e.g., 'Additionally', 'Meanwhile'), but their usage is sometimes awkward or mechanical (e.g., 'As , in 2007...'). Referencing is occasionally unclear, and logical progression within the main body paragraph could be significantly improved with better subdivision and punctuation.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms related to data trends and economics, such as 'fluctuated', 'dropped', 'declined', and 'households'. However, there are frequent word-choice and collocation errors (e.g., 'amount of US households' instead of 'number of US households', 'households number', 'caterories', 'risen up'). Spelling and morphological errors ('falctuated', 'caterories') also occur. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they restrict the lexical score to a Band 5.0.
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 throughout the response, such as awkward phrasing ('whose income were less than and $25,000'), incorrect prepositions, and faulty subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'the households number are', 'it reached at'). Punctuation errors are also present, such as missing spaces after commas and dangling introductory clauses. These frequent errors cause some difficulty for the reader and prevent the response from achieving a higher band score.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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