Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-11-03

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 illustration gives information about the numbers of citizen lived in US according their annual income in following years. Overall, the large number of households had earn of $100,000 and more, stood at highest in number, while the anuual income of households, $75,000-$99,999 remained lowest over all the period.

It is quite evident from the bar chart, In 2007, 30 millions households earned 100,000 and more

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.5

You identify the chart’s subject and attempt an overview by noting that the $75,000–$99,999 group was the smallest and that the $100,000-or-more group was highest. However, the overview is not fully accurate: the highest category was largest only in 2007 and 2015; in 2011, the $25,000–$49,999 group was slightly larger. The response gives just one figure—about 30 million for the highest-income group in 2007—and does not report the remaining years or compare the other categories, so the main features are only minimally covered. The response is also 84 words below the required minimum, leaving the chart substantially under-described. Include a clear overview and several accurate comparisons across all three years.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

There is a basic attempt to organise the response: an opening sentence introduces the chart, an overview follows, and the final sentence begins a specific detail. This gives the reader a simple starting structure. However, the response stops before developing a logical account of the data, and the final detail is left incomplete, so there is little progression from overview to comparisons. The capitalisation after the comma in “bar chart, In 2007” also interrupts the flow. Use separate, complete paragraphs for the introduction, overview and key comparisons, and connect the figures with clear sequencing such as “By contrast” or “In 2015.”

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant chart vocabulary, including “illustration,” “bar chart,” “households,” “annual income,” and “remained lowest.” These choices show awareness of the topic, and the meaning is generally recoverable. However, several phrases are inaccurate or unnatural, such as “numbers of citizen lived in US,” “according their annual income,” and “households had earn.” “Anuual” is also misspelled, and “30 millions households” uses an unsuitable form. The limited range partly reflects the very short response. Aim for precise collocations such as “the number of US households,” “classified by annual income,” and “approximately 30 million households earned.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both a complex introductory sentence and a simple sentence reporting a figure, but grammatical control is inconsistent. For example, “numbers of citizen lived in US according their annual income” has problems with noun number, verb construction, articles and prepositions, while “households had earn” uses an incorrect verb form. The overview also lacks a clear grammatical link in “the annual income of households, $75,000-$99,999 remained lowest.” The final sentence is incomplete, with no punctuation closing it. These errors sometimes make the intended relationships difficult to follow. Build accurate basic sentence patterns first, then add comparisons using controlled clauses such as “The figure rose from … to ….”

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