Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-09

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 4.5)

The rendered bar graph depicts the count of household with their annual earning in the year of 2007, 2011 and 2015.

Overall, the number of households by $100,000 income was the highest, whereas the count of household with $75,[redacted phone],999 earning recorded least in the given period of time.

In detail of less than $25,000, the figure of household stood at 25 millions in 2007, which was inceased approximately to 30 millions in 2004 and 2015. After that,the number of households by $25,000-$49,999 was just above 25 millions in 2007 and incerased to exact 30 millions in 2011 which decease in the last year

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.5

The response identifies the chart’s subject and attempts an overview, but it reports only a small part of the data and does not adequately summarise the main features. The claim that the $100,000-or-more group was highest is true only in 2015, not across the whole period; in 2007 and 2011, the $25,000–$49,999 group was larger. The stated lowest category, “$75,000-499,999,” is also mislabelled: the chart’s category is $75,000–$99,999, and the $50,000–$74,999 group was lower in 2007 and 2011. Some figures and trends are inaccurate, and the response omits the higher-income groups and meaningful comparisons. It is also 47 words below the required minimum. Include a clear overview and accurately compare the main changes across all categories.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

There is a basic attempt to organise the response, with an opening, an overview and a detail paragraph. However, the progression is limited: the final paragraph covers only two income bands and ends abruptly, without completing the comparison or providing a conclusion to the data description. Linking phrases such as “Overall,” “In detail” and “After that” show an effort to guide the reader, but “After that” does not clearly express the relationship between the two categories, and the sequence of information is not consistently logical. The overview also does not prepare the reader for the details that follow. Group the figures into clear comparisons, use transitions that show contrast or change, and complete each paragraph so the report has a clear beginning, development and ending.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The response uses some task-relevant vocabulary, including “bar graph,” “annual earning,” “figure” and “increased,” and the income ranges make the topic identifiable. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, such as “count of household,” “by $100,000 income” and “earning recorded least.” The category “$75,000-499,999” is also written incorrectly, which makes the data label unclear. Spelling errors such as “inceased,” “incerased” and “decease” further reduce precision. Use standard chart language consistently—for example, “number of households,” “income bracket,” “stood at” and “rose to”—and check spelling and the exact boundaries of each income category.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts a few longer sentence forms, including the clause beginning “which was…,” but control is uneven and the range remains limited. Errors in sentence construction and agreement appear in phrases such as “the count of household,” “the figure of household stood,” and “which decease in the last year.” The sentence beginning “After that” is incomplete, leaving the final comparison unfinished, and punctuation is inconsistent, as in “After that,the number.” There is also a tense-form problem in “was inceased,” where the verb form does not fit the sentence. Practise accurate simple past descriptions and complete clauses before adding more complex structures; then check articles, plural nouns, verb forms and sentence endings.

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