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 chart illustrates the number of households in the USA in five different annual income groups in 2007,2001 and 2015. The figures are given in millions.

Overall, households earning 100,000 or more showed a siginifiacant increase by 2015. In contrast, the number of households earning between 75,000 and 99,999 remained the lowest throughout the period. The other income groups experienced some fluctuations.

In 2007,apporimately 25 million households earnrd less than $25,000, while around 27 million households belonged to the $25,000-$49,999 income group. The figure for housholds earning between $50,000 and $74,999 was about 21 millin. Meanwhile, approximatelly 14 million households earned between $75,00 and $99,999, making it the smallest group. By comparison, the number of households earning $100,000 or more stood at around 29 million.

In 2011, the number of households earning less than $25,000 increased to approximately 29 million, while the $25,000 -$49,999 group reached about 30 million. However, the figures for the $50,000-$74,999 and $75,000-$99,999 groups were around 21 million and 14 million, respectively. the highest -income groip declined slightly to about 28 million. BY 2015 households earing $100,000 or more had risen cinsiderably to approximately 33 million, becoming the lowest groups. The $ 75,000-$99,999 group imcreased slightly to 15 million, while the remaining groups stood at roughtly 28-29 million, 28 million and 21 million, respectively.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the main overall rise in households earning $100,000 or more and correctly note that the $75,000–$99,999 group is the smallest. You also include figures for all five categories across the three years, so the response is relevant and covers the chart. However, the overview is not fully accurate: the $75,000–$99,999 group did not remain the lowest throughout, since the $50,000–$74,999 group was also higher, and the other groups were mostly stable or rose and then dipped rather than showing broad fluctuations. The final phrase “becoming the lowest groups” contradicts the data; the highest-income group became the largest. Correct the year “2001” to 2011 and make the key comparisons clearer.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, an overview and paragraphs describing the figures in 2007 and later years. Time markers such as “In 2007,” “In 2011” and “By 2015” help the reader follow the chronology. However, progression is weakened by the final paragraph’s crowded sequence of figures and the unclear phrase “the remaining groups stood at roughly 28–29 million, 28 million and 21 million, respectively,” which makes the category-to-value links difficult to track. “Meanwhile” and “By comparison” are used, but the relationships between some comparisons are not precise. Grouping the income bands by trend, and checking that each reference clearly identifies its category, would make the organisation more coherent.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of chart vocabulary, including “illustrates,” “income groups,” “increased,” “declined slightly” and “stood at around.” These choices generally communicate the data, but spelling errors are frequent and sometimes distract: examples include “siginifiacant,” “apporimately,” “housholds,” “millin” and “cinsiderably.” Some expressions are also imprecise or awkward, such as “the lowest groups” when you mean the largest group, and “remained the lowest throughout” for a category that was not uniquely lowest. Use accurate, consistent labels for the income bands and choose trend language that matches the figures. Proofreading spelling and avoiding vague phrases would make your vocabulary more reliable and precise.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentences, including clauses with “while” and “although” is not needed to understand the comparisons; most sentence meanings remain recoverable. However, there are recurring errors in sentence boundaries, capitalization and verb forms. For example, “the highest-income groip declined” begins with a lowercase letter after a full stop, while “households earnrd” uses an incorrect verb form; “BY 2015” is also incorrectly capitalized. The opening year sequence lacks spacing and contains a wrong year, and punctuation around some income ranges is inconsistent. These errors make the report less controlled, even though the basic sentence patterns are understandable. Check each sentence for a clear subject and verb, consistent past tense, and correct capitalization and punctuation.

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