Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-06

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 shows the number of household in the USA in five different annual income groups in the 2007, 2011 and 2015. the figures are given in millins.

overall, household earning $ 100,000 or more were the largest group in 2007 and 2015. in contrast the number of household earning $75000-$99999 was the smallest in all three years. most income groups changed onluy slightly during the period.

in 2007, around 25 million household earned less than $25000, while approx 26 million earned between $25,000 and $49,999. the figures for $50,000-$74,999 and $75,000-$99,999 were about20 million and 13 million, repectively. the highest figure was forhoud=sehold earning $100,000 or more, at about 28 million

9In 2011 the numbers of household earning less than 425,000 fell slightly around 27 million while the $25,000-$49,999 group increased to about 30 million. the number earning $50,000-$74,999 decreased slightly and the $75,000-$99,999 group to 3 million. household earning $100,000 or more is around 24 million.

by 2015 the first two group hadd about 27 million and 28 million household. the $50,000-$74,999 group decreased around 15 million while the $75,000-$99,999 group is about 15 million. finally the highest income group rose again to approx 33 miliion household.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You provide a relevant overview, identifying the highest-income group as largest in 2007 and 2015 and the $75,000–$99,999 group as smallest throughout. You also attempt to compare all five categories across the three years. However, several figures and trends are inaccurate, which weakens the report: in 2011 the $75,000–$99,999 group was about 14 million, not 3 million, and the $100,000-or-more group was about 27.5 million, not 24 million. The $50,000–$74,999 category stayed close to 21 million throughout, rather than falling to 15 million in 2015. The overview also misses the notable rise in the highest-income group by 2015. Check each figure against the chart and prioritise the clearest overall changes.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate paragraphs for 2007, 2011 and 2015. This makes the information generally easy to follow, and time markers such as “in 2007” and “by 2015” help signal progression. However, organising the details year by year leads to repeated descriptions of individual groups, while comparisons across years are limited. Some links are also unclear, particularly “the $75,000-$99,999 group to 3 million,” where the relationship between the figures is incomplete. The corrupted text in the 2007 paragraph interrupts the flow. Grouping categories with similar trends and using clearer comparison links would make the progression more effective.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant task vocabulary, including “income groups,” “figures,” “increased,” “decreased” and “rose,” so the reader can understand the general subject and direction of change. However, the range is limited and some word choices or forms are inaccurate: “household” is repeatedly used where the plural “households” is needed, and “earning” is less natural than “with incomes of” in this context. Spelling errors such as “millins,” “repectively” and “miliion,” along with the garbled “forhoud=sehold,” reduce clarity. Use a consistent set of precise terms such as “the number of households,” “income bracket,” “remained stable” and “rose to,” and proofread spelling carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mixture of simple statements and longer comparisons, and the basic meaning is often recoverable. However, grammatical control is inconsistent, with frequent errors in agreement, articles, verb forms and sentence construction. For example, “the number of household” should be “the number of households,” while “household earning … were” mixes singular and plural forms. The sentence “the $75,000-$99,999 group to 3 million” is incomplete, and “the highest income group is around 24 million” shifts into the present tense when describing 2011. Capitalisation and punctuation are also unreliable, as in the lowercase “overall” and the run-on or disrupted text. Practise accurate past-tense reporting and complete comparative sentences before adding more complex structures.

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