Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-13

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 line graph illustrates the proportion of households, appliances and average number of hours of housework per week in one country from 1920 to 2019.

As can be seen from the first figure, refrigerator rose suddenly between 1920 to 1960 and reached 90% which started at 0 . After that it remained stable from 1982 to 2019. Meanwhile, vacuum cleaner increased smoothly during most of the time, and in last twenty years there was no any change, and And almost all households used it.

Washing machine fluctuated slightly in the first forty years. It grew slowly and jumped 40% to 70%. Then it decreased slightly and again rose up.

Turning into the second graph, in the 1920, almost 50 hours were contributed to housework. However, the number of hours collapsed sharply between 1920 and 1960. For next 20 years, it declined steadily and reached almost 15 hours, then remained constant again. Again, went down slightly, and in the final year, the figure reached the bottom at 10.

Overall, in the first chart, all three appliances followed upward trend, while in the second graph, it followed downward trend.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response covers the main features of both charts, accurately reporting the trends in appliance ownership and housework hours. The student correctly identifies the upward trends for the refrigerator, vacuum cleaner, and washing machine, as well as the downward trend in the time spent doing housework. However, some specific data points and details lack precision, such as stating that refrigerator ownership 'started at 0' when the graph actually shows around 10% in 1920, and omitting exact starting figures for some items. Furthermore, the overview provided in the final paragraph is slightly brief and general. Nevertheless, all parts of the prompt are addressed with relevant comparisons, which aligns the response with Band 6.5 to 7.0. Given the general coverage and clear identification of key trends, a band score of 6.5 is appropriate.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is structured into distinct paragraphs representing an introduction, body paragraphs for each chart, and an overall summary, which helps create a logical overall arrangement. Cohesive devices and transition markers such as 'As can be seen from', 'Meanwhile', 'Turning into the second graph', and 'Overall' are used to guide the reader through the data. However, some transitions feel a bit mechanical or repetitive, such as 'Again, went down slightly'. Referencing is occasionally slightly unclear, for instance using pronouns like 'it' in the conclusion without a completely crisp antecedent. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate distinct visual aids, supporting an overall coherence score of 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for describing graphical data, utilizing terms such as 'proportion', 'fluctuated', 'stable', 'declined steadily', and 'constant'. There are some attempts at less common vocabulary items like 'collapsed sharply'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation inaccuracies throughout the text, such as saying 'refrigerator rose suddenly' instead of 'the percentage of households with a refrigerator', and 'there was no any change'. Additionally, minor phrasing issues like 'reached the bottom at 10' detract from precision. The vocabulary is minimally sufficient to convey the message, fitting the Band 6 descriptor well.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writing contains a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over past tense narrative structures for historical data ('refrigerator rose suddenly', 'almost 50 hours were contributed'). However, there are several grammatical errors and awkward phrasings, such as missing prepositions or articles ('in the 1920' instead of 'in the 1920s', 'in last twenty years', and 'there was no any change'). Punctuation and sentence boundaries occasionally falter, such as dangling phrases like 'Again, went down slightly'. While these errors do not seriously impede overall communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the response from reaching Band 7.0, making a Band 6.0 score accurate.

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

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