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 lie graph provides information on the alteration in ownership of three electrical appliances along with number of hours spent per week doing house chores in homes of one country between 1920 to 2019.

It is clear that, an increasing trend has been observed for all the three electrical appliances. In addition, a decline is noticable in hours spent doing household works per week between 1920 to 2019.

Looking more closely at the figures, households using washing machine increased from 40% to above 70% over the period. Similarly, Refrigerator showed a rapid rise. Furthermore, vacuum cleaner also rised from 30% to 100% by the year 2019.

In terms of number of hours, a drastic drop had been seen over the period of time, which states from 50 hours to on

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The student attempts to summarise the main features of the charts, providing an overview of the rising appliance ownership and the decline in housework hours. However, the response is incomplete and cuts off mid-sentence in the final paragraph ("which states from 50 hours to on"). Furthermore, the word count is 130 words, failing the 150-word minimum requirement. Although some key trends are identified, the lack of completion and under-length nature severely restrict the development of the task, leading to a Band 5.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response is organised into short paragraphs, with an introduction and an overview. Cohesive devices are used to signal progression, such as "In addition", "Looking more closely at the figures", and "In terms of". However, referencing is sometimes mechanical and the abrupt ending disrupts the overall logical flow and paragraph structure. Despite these flaws, the text maintains a coherent arrangement up to the point where it stops, fitting the descriptor for Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, including terms like "alteration", "ownership", "electrical appliances", and "trend". There are some lexical errors and awkward collocations, such as "The lie graph" (typo for line), "household works" (instead of housework), and "rised" (incorrect past tense form of rise). More precise vocabulary could be used to describe trends, but the language used is sufficient to convey the general meaning, earning a Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as "It is clear that, an increasing trend has been observed..." There are several grammatical errors, including punctuation issues ("clear that,") and morphological mistakes ("rised", "noticable"). Most notably, the response ends prematurely with an incomplete sentence fragment. Because the errors are frequent and the text is incomplete, it sits at Band 5.0.

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

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