Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-15

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The charts below show the changes in ownership of electrical appliances and amount of time spent doing housework in households in one country between 1920 and 2019.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Percentage of households with electrical appliances (1920-2019)

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The given line graphs illustrates the information about the ownership changed of electric appliances and time spent doing housework in one county between 1920 and 2019.

It is clear from the graph, in the year 1920, refrigerator was owned by no person, whereas, washing machine and vacuum cleaner was owned by 40% and 30% of households respectively and number of hours spent per week for individual household was 50%. In 1940 refrigerator ownership increased rapidly and it was about 52% , vacuum cleaner and washing machine number of ownership increased to 50% and 60% respectively also the hours spent on household work decreased significantly to 33 hours per week.

Furthermore, between the year 1960 to 1980 refrigerator was owned by every household and vacuum cleaner was on 90% of houses from 60%. Washing machine was found on 70% of houses but it later decreased to 62% in 1980. Moreover, number of hours spent decreased from 20% to 11%. From the year 200 to 2019, refrigerator and vacuum cleaner was owned by every household. Meanwhile, washing machine ownership increased steadily to 72% and number of hours spent on household decreased to 10%.

To conclude, as the percentage of ownership in every household increased of refrigerator, vacuum cleaner and washing machine hours spent on doing housework decreased.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers all parts of the task and identifies key trends, such as the inverse relationship between appliance ownership and housework time. However, the data reporting is occasionally inaccurate. For instance, you state that in 1920, the refrigerator was owned by 'no person,' whereas the graph shows a small percentage. Additionally, you describe the hours spent as '50%' in 1920, but the axis clearly labels this as 'hours per week.' The overview is present but could be more effectively integrated to highlight the main trends rather than just listing data points. To improve, ensure you distinguish clearly between percentages and absolute units like hours.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear progression of ideas from the start to the end. You use some cohesive devices such as 'Furthermore,' 'Moreover,' and 'Meanwhile' to link sentences. However, the use of these devices is sometimes mechanical, and the referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the final paragraph where the sentence structure becomes slightly convoluted. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction, body, and conclusion, which helps the reader follow the information provided.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing you to describe trends like 'increased rapidly,' 'decreased significantly,' and 'increased steadily.' However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'ownership changed of electric appliances' instead of 'changes in the ownership of electrical appliances.' You also repeat the word 'ownership' and 'households' frequently. To reach a higher band, try to incorporate more varied synonyms and ensure that collocations are natural, such as 'the rate of ownership' rather than just 'ownership was on.'

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'The given line graphs illustrates' should be 'illustrate,' and 'refrigerator was owned' should be 'refrigerators were owned'). There are also issues with article usage and prepositions, such as 'in one county' instead of 'in one country' and 'from the year 200' (a typo for 2000). While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the main points, they occur frequently enough to limit the score.

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

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