Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-13

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 graph compares the American households by their yearly income,in millions, in the year 2007, 2011 and 2015.

Overall, the highest income bracket remained the highest in all years except in 2011. The annual income for figure $75,000-$99,999 stood at the lowest in all the three years.

The lowest income bracket were at 25 million in 2007 and reaching 28 million and 27 million in 2011 and 2015, respectively. The $25,000-$49,000 anuual income fluctuated. It started from approximately 27 million in 2007, increaing to 29 million in 2011 and then decreasing to 28 million in 2015. The only figure that remained stable was $50,000-$74,999 income size which reamined at 21 million.

Families who had $75,000-$99,999 annual income, their size slighltly flunctuated, ranging between 13 to 15 million households. The $100,000-or-more income bracket stood at 29 million in 2007, it decreased to 28 million and grew again.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the main categories and provide an overview, noting that the highest-income group led in most years and that the $75,000–$99,999 group was the smallest. However, the overview is not fully accurate: the highest bracket was not highest in 2007, when it was slightly above the $25,000–$49,999 group, and it was also highest in 2015. Several details are incomplete or imprecise: the final figure for the lowest bracket is about 28 million, not 27, and the highest bracket’s 2015 rise to about 33.5 million is omitted. The response is also three words below the required minimum. Include the key peak and comparisons, and report the figures more precisely to make the summary more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs describing income groups. The information is generally easy to follow, and phrases such as “Overall” and “The only figure that remained stable” help signal the main points. However, the final paragraph ends without completing the comparison for the highest-income group, so the progression feels unfinished. Some links between ideas are also awkward, particularly “Families who had …, their size,” which makes the relationship between the households and the figure unclear. Grouping the two lower brackets together and then comparing the remaining categories, while ensuring each trend is fully reported, would make the organisation more cohesive.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant task vocabulary, including “income bracket,” “fluctuated,” “stable,” and “ranging,” which helps describe the chart. There is some variety in how you report movement, although several phrases are imprecise or unnatural, such as “the annual income for figure” and “income size”; the chart shows numbers of households, not income amounts. Spelling errors, including “anuual,” “increaing,” “reamined,” “slighltly,” and “flunctuated,” are noticeable and reduce the accuracy of the vocabulary. Use precise terms for the measured quantity and check spelling carefully. More accurate collocations would make the description clearer and more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex forms, including the overview sentence beginning “Overall” and the contrast in “The only figure that remained stable.” Meaning is usually understandable, but some grammatical errors remain. For example, “The lowest income bracket were” has subject–verb disagreement, while “Families who had …, their size” is an incomplete and awkwardly constructed sentence. The final sentence joins two independent clauses with a comma: “stood at 29 million in 2007, it decreased…”. There are also punctuation and spacing issues, such as the missing space after “income,” in the opening sentence. Practise accurate agreement and complete sentence structures, and use a full stop or conjunction to connect clauses.

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