Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-01
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 figure outlines the change of rate in ownership of electrical appliances and housework activity level in a country for the period 1920 to 2019.Initial investigation showed vacuum cleaners and refrigerators were the highest in electrical appliance to be owned by households.While the washing machine ownership held modest ownership.In 1920 firstly refrigerators weren't owned relatively high but it's ownership sharply rose and then followed a constant increasing pattern.Initially the rate of ownership of vacuum appeared to be impressive and also climbed to a certain level in short interval,however washing machines is the only electrical appliance which showed frequent fluctuations during the whole period.On the contrast the second chart shows the number of hours per spent by people doing the household activities.Firstly it can be seen that people spent most time in past for their activities indoor, but this time span slightly decreased initially .As the time passed the time span for these household activities declined sharply following a constant decreasing pattern till 2019.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response covers the main features of both charts, but the analysis is somewhat superficial. While you identify trends like the rise in appliance ownership and the decline in housework hours, the description lacks specific data points (e.g., percentages or years) to support your claims. The overview is integrated into the body, which is acceptable, but it lacks a clear, distinct summary of the overall trends. To improve, ensure you include specific figures from the graph to substantiate your observations, as this is essential for a higher band score in Task 1.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organised into two main paragraphs, but the internal structure is weak. The use of cohesive devices is limited and sometimes mechanical, such as 'Initial investigation showed' or 'On the contrast'. The transition between the two charts is abrupt. Paragraphing is also insufficient; the entire response should ideally be structured with an introduction, an overview, and two distinct body paragraphs to ensure a logical flow of information. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring each paragraph has a clear focus will significantly enhance the coherence of your writing.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks precision and variety. You rely on repetitive phrasing such as 'constant increasing pattern' and 'constant decreasing pattern'. There are also some awkward collocations, such as 'change of rate in ownership' and 'time span for these household activities'. While the meaning is clear, the range of vocabulary is limited, and you struggle to use more sophisticated or academic terminology to describe trends. Expanding your repertoire of trend-related verbs and nouns will help you achieve a higher score.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors. Issues include missing articles ('in one country'), subject-verb agreement errors ('washing machines is the only'), and awkward phrasing ('number of hours per spent'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, with missing spaces after commas and periods. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to lower the score. Focusing on basic sentence construction and proofreading for subject-verb agreement and article usage will lead to immediate improvements.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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