Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

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

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 charts illustrates the percentage of homes had electrical appliances such as washing machine, refrigerator and vacuum cleaner. Other chart shows the number of hours spent on doing housework in one country from 1920 to 2019.

Overall, the number of household with electrical appliances were increased rapidly over the years. In 1920, the household with refrigerator were at zero percentage and there was 30% and 40% household with vacuum cleaner and washing machine respectivily. By 1940, all appliances were nearly similar, as there was rise in refrigerator appliances and reaches to 55%. Every household had refrigerator and vacuum cleaner by 2000, and household with washing machine were 70% during that time which increased to 75% by 2019. There are 50 hours per week spent by per household in 1920. It decline to 20 hours per week by 1960. The hours spend were remain equal suring 1980 to 2000. In 2019, it become near to 10 hours per week for household work.

In conclusions, there was increase in electrical appliances and fall in working hours of household.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The candidate successfully covers all parts of the task by reporting the main features of both charts and making relevant comparisons. The overview captures the overall upward trend in appliance ownership and the downward trend in housework hours. Key data points are generally accurate, such as noting that 50 hours per week were spent on housework in 1920, declining to 11 hours by 2019, and that refrigerators and vacuum cleaners reached 100% by 2000. However, there are some minor inaccuracies or vague expressions, such as stating that refrigerators were at 'zero percentage' in 1920 (the visual data shows 2%) and minor typos in data reporting. Overall, the task is well addressed, earning a solid Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs addressing the data, and a brief conclusion. Cohesive devices are used to guide the reader through the data, such as 'Overall', 'In 1920', 'By 1940', and 'In 2019'. However, paragraphing is somewhat basic, and referencing or cohesive links are occasionally mechanical or slightly repetitive (e.g., beginning multiple sentences with time markers in a repetitive pattern). Paragraph 2 is quite dense and would benefit from being split to better separate appliance ownership trends from the housework hour trends. Progression is generally clear throughout, warranting a Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, successfully incorporating terms like 'electrical appliances', 'washing machine', 'refrigerator', 'vacuum cleaner', and 'housework'. There are, however, several lexical errors, incorrect word forms, and non-standard collocations throughout the text. For instance, 'The line charts illustrates' (subject-verb agreement), 'the number of household with' (pluralisation error), 'reaches to 55%' (inaccurate verb form), and 'It decline' (tense/form error). While these errors are noticeable, communication is not impeded, and the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the trends, placing it at Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control is inconsistent. There are frequent grammatical and punctuation errors throughout the response, including subject-verb agreement issues ('The line charts illustrates', 'the household with refrigerator were'), tense inconsistencies ('The hours spend were remain equal suring 1980 to 2000'), and spelling/typo errors ('respectivily', 'suring', 'become near'). Complex structures are often faulty or awkward. Although the meaning is generally clear despite the errors, the high frequency of basic grammatical mistakes prevents the score from reaching Band 6.0, resulting in a Band 5.5.

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