Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-19

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 5.0)

The provided chart illustrates the consumption of household by their annual income in the US from 2007, 2011 to 2015.

Overall, in 2007 the number of households were almost 30 million which consume their annual income one lac dollar above. Rest of the household remained almost same just varied in small amount. While in 2015, one thousand above dollars annual income consumption of household became about 36 million.

In 2007, the 25 million households were consuming less than 25 thousand dollar annual income. while about 23 million household were accounting 25 to 49 thousand dollars annually. Moreover 50 to 75 thousand annual income accounted almost 21 million households. And 75 thousand to 1 lac annual income accounted almost 14 milion households. Moreover, 1 lac plus annual income accounted almost 29 million households.

while in 2011, less than 25 thousand dollar income and 25 to 50 thousand dollar income rose the number of households to almost 28 to 30 million respectively and rest of the were remained same. In 2015, 1 lac plus income rose the number of household consumption to approximately 38 million and other almost remained same.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response identifies the broad pattern that the $100,000-or-more group was large and increased by 2015, and it attempts to compare all five income bands. However, the overview is unclear and includes substantial inaccuracies: the highest-income group was about 29.5 million in 2007 and 33.5 million in 2015, not about 36 and 38 million. The $25,000–$49,999 figure in 2007 was about 27 million, rather than 23 million. The claim that the other groups “remained almost same” also overlooks the rise in the two lowest bands by 2011 and the small changes in the $75,000–$99,999 group. Select the main trends accurately and give a clear overview before supporting it with figures.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a basic structure: an opening, an overview, and paragraphs describing the years. This gives the reader some organisation, and time markers such as “In 2007” and “in 2011” help indicate the sequence. However, progression is not consistently clear because the account moves year by year while repeatedly saying that categories “remained same,” without specifying which ones or how they compare. Connectors such as “Moreover” are repeated and do not always show a meaningful relationship between details. The overview also combines several ideas in a confusing way. Grouping the income bands by similar trends, and using clearer references such as “the two lowest-income groups,” would make the comparisons easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

The response uses relevant topic vocabulary, including “annual income,” “households,” “rose,” and “accounted,” so the subject is generally recognisable. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate or awkward, sometimes making the meaning difficult to interpret. For example, “consumption of household” and “households were consuming” describe income as something households consume, rather than the number of households in each income category. “One lac” is not an appropriate way to report the chart’s dollar threshold in formal IELTS writing, and “rest of the were remained same” is unclear. Use precise terms such as “households earning” and “income band,” and report thresholds consistently as “$100,000 or more.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple and longer sentence forms, and the reader can usually identify the years and income groups being discussed. However, errors in agreement, verb forms, articles, and sentence construction occur frequently. For instance, “the number of households were” should use a singular verb, while “which consume their annual income” has an unclear relative clause and incorrect tense. The sentence “rest of the were remained same” is grammatically incomplete, and several sentences begin with lowercase “while.” These problems sometimes make relationships between ideas hard to understand. Practise accurate basic sentence patterns first, such as “The number of households earning under $25,000 rose,” then add comparisons using correctly formed clauses.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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