Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-30

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 graph shows the number of households in the Unites States by their annual income in 2007, 2011 and 2015. It specifies the annual income of three years. The briefly discussion of this bar chart is given below.

Placing a look on the annual income of year 2007. Initially, at the arrival of the new year 2007 the sales climbed to quarter such as 25%. Moreover, their is a slightly increase in this and then it fallen down to 15%. But at the end of the year it climbed to mere 30%.

More, considering the year 2011. Firstly, the annual income has a huge profit upto 30% in the starting of the year. Usually, in the middle of the year it drops to less than 15%. At the end of the year the annual income also increases.

Now seeing the last year which is 2015. At the start it is similar to the other years even in the middle often the sales drops. However, at the end of the year it make us stay shocked that the annual income of the household climbed to the 35%.

Taking everything in account, yearly the household annual income changes significantly in the United States.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.5

The student attempts to describe the bar chart showing the number of US households by annual income in 2007, 2011, and 2015. However, there are fundamental misinterpretations of the visual data. The student treats the different income brackets on the X-axis as a chronological progression within a single year, referring to 'the arrival of the new year' and 'at the start of the year' for categories like 'Less than $25,000' and '$25,000–$49,999'. The categories represent distinct income groups, not time periods. Furthermore, the use of financial terms like 'sales' and 'profit' is entirely inappropriate for household income data. Because the core data points and the nature of the chart are fundamentally misunderstood and misreported, the response fails to address the requirements of Task 1 accurately.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

The response is divided into short paragraphs attempting to follow a chronological structure, such as 'Placing a look on the annual income of year 2007' and 'Now seeing the last year which is 2015'. However, the logical progression is severely disrupted by the misinterpretation of the chart's axes, leading to confusing statements like 'Firstly, the annual income has a huge profit upto 30% in the starting of the year'. While basic cohesive devices such as 'Moreover', 'Firstly', and 'However' are used, referencing is unclear and mechanical. Paragraphing is attempted, but the overall organizational structure lacks coherence due to the pervasive misreading of the underlying data.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.0

The lexical range is extremely limited and largely inaccurate for an academic task. The student repeatedly uses incorrect vocabulary related to business and commerce, such as 'sales', 'profit', and 'fallen down', when discussing household income statistics. Phrases like 'make us stay shocked' are overly informal and unsuitable for an Academic Task 1 report. Word choices demonstrate a lack of awareness of appropriate style and collocation. Spelling is generally acceptable, but frequent misuse of basic economic and statistical terminology severely impedes accurate communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.0

The student demonstrates a very limited range of grammatical structures, relying primarily on simple sentences with frequent structural errors. There are numerous grammatical inaccuracies, such as 'their is a slightly increase' (instead of 'there is a slight increase'), 'it fallen down' (tense error), and 'it make us stay shocked'. Prepositional and article errors are widespread, for example, 'Placing a look' instead of 'Taking a look' or 'Looking', and 'at the arrival of the new year'. Complex sentence attempts are frequently faulty and awkward. Errors are pervasive and constantly impede the reader's understanding.

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