Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

The provided bar graph illustrates the annual income of the USA householdsin three different years.

Overall, it is evident that the number of households were highest in the last year,while the other years were similar.

Turning to the details, in the initial year the amount of households who's income was less than 25000 dollars about 25 millions afterthis the people who's income was 25000-49,999 dollars was nearly more than a quarter, Furthermore the figure of households who's income was [redacted phone]9 dollars remained stable in all year roughly at 14 millions.

looking futher, in 2011 and 2015 the number of house holds who's income was[redacted phone]9 dollars about 30 millions and 27 millions respectively. despite this the amount of hopuse holds who's income was [redacted phone]9 dollars remained unchanged in given three years.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

The response identifies a few relevant figures, including the roughly 25 million households below $25,000 in 2007 and the stability of the $50,000–$74,999 group. However, it only partially reports the chart and its overview is inaccurate: the highest figure was not in 2015 overall, since the $100,000-or-more group was already about 29.5 million in 2007, and the chart’s highest value was about 33.5 million in 2015. Several figures are also misreported, notably the $25,000–$49,999 group in 2015, which was about 28.5 million, not 27 million. The response omits the important rise in the highest-income group. It is also 20 words below the required minimum, limiting the detail provided. A fuller overview and accurate comparisons across all income bands are needed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is a basic overall structure: an introduction, an overview, and two detail paragraphs. This gives the reader some sense of how the response is organised. However, progression within the detail paragraphs is weak: the first moves from 2007 figures to a general claim about stability, while the second returns to 2011 and 2015 without a clear comparison framework. Connectors such as “Furthermore,” “looking further,” and “despite this” are sometimes awkward or do not clearly express the relationship between the information. The overview also does not prepare the reader for the details that follow. Grouping the income bands by trend and using clearer links between comparisons would make the organisation more coherent.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The response uses some task-relevant vocabulary, including “bar graph,” “remained stable,” “figure,” and “unchanged,” and it attempts to describe income categories and quantities. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, such as “the amount of households” and “the annual income of the USA households,” which do not clearly describe the number of households in each income band. Spelling and spacing errors, including “futher,” “hopuse holds,” and “householdsin,” also reduce control. Repeating “households whose income was” makes the description cumbersome. Use concise chart language such as “the number of households earning…” and vary verbs like “rose,” “fell,” and “remained stable.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts some longer sentence forms, for example, “despite this the amount of hopuse holds… remained unchanged,” and uses past-tense reporting. However, the range is limited, and errors are frequent enough to make several sentences difficult to follow. In “the number of households were highest,” the subject and verb do not agree; “in the initial year the amount… about 25 millions” lacks a clear verb and has an incorrect plural form. The repeated clause “households who's income was” also has faulty relative-pronoun use and sentence construction. Punctuation is often missing where ideas run together, as in the first detail paragraph. Build shorter, complete sentences first, then add accurate comparisons using subordinate clauses.

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