Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-24
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 number of households in the US is given in the chart, followed by their yearly income in the year 2007, 2011 and 2015.
Overall, the annual income of people with $100,000 or more is consecutively highest in 2015 than in previous years. Whereas, the ratio of individuals with their yearly income ranking from $25,000 to $49,999 reached its maximum point in the year 2011, as compared to other two years. Consequently, there is a little to no change in the other two salary structures.
The annual income scoring $100,000 or more was the salary of approximately 33 million individuals, thus being the greatest number of people with this income. While in 2007, the ratio of same cash amount was given to people around 29.5 million, and declined in 2011 with 27 million people having this income per year.
Another income structure of $75,000-$99,999 was given to 15 million US households, having a decline in past years of about 14.5 million and 14 million in the year 2007 and 2011 respectively.
The majority of people upto 30 million in 2011 had their yearly salary of $25,000-$49,999, while the other two years have a less value of 22 million in 2007 and 29 million in 2015.
The income bracket $50,000-$74,999 was identical throughout the years. A slightly marginal change has been observed in the salary structure $75,000-$99,999 as it was 15 million in 2015 as the greatest shift in ratio for this period, whereas 14.5 million US residents comprises this salary structure, causing a slight decrease of 14 million in 2011.
Thus, the US residents have their income of about $100,000 or more till the end of the period 2015.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The student attempts to address the task by reporting information from the chart regarding US household income across three years. However, there are notable inaccuracies in reading the data, such as claiming that the $25,000-$49,999 bracket had 22 million households in 2007 and 29 million in 2015 when the chart shows 27 million and 28.5 million respectively. Furthermore, the overview is somewhat confused, referring to income brackets as 'people' rather than 'households'. While main features such as the peak of the $100,000+ category in 2015 are mentioned, the lack of precision in data reporting and confusing phrasing prevents the response from achieving a higher score.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0
The response is structured into an introduction, body paragraphs, and a concluding sentence, providing an overall logical arrangement. However, the progression within paragraphs is sometimes difficult to follow due to awkward transitions and repetitive information regarding the same income brackets across different sentences. Cohesive devices such as 'while', 'whereas', and 'consequently' are used, but their mechanical application occasionally disrupts the flow and logical connection of ideas. Paragraphing is present, but grouping related data points more effectively would improve clarity.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student attempts to use a range of vocabulary related to data analysis, including terms like 'bracket', 'decline', and 'shift'. However, there are persistent lexical inaccuracies and unnatural collocations, such as referring to income brackets as 'salary structures' or 'cash amount', and confusing 'households' with 'individuals' or 'residents'. Spelling is generally acceptable, but word choice errors occur frequently enough to cause occasional confusion for the reader.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The text displays a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, incorporating subordinate clauses and participial phrases. However, grammatical control is inconsistent. There are several errors in subject-verb agreement and prepositional use, such as 'income scoring $100,000 or more' and 'households... having a decline'. Punctuation is generally functional, but awkward phrasing in sentences like 'the US residents have their income of about $100,000 or more till the end of the period' detracts from overall accuracy.
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