Band 7.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-19

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 7.5)

The charts show changes in the percentage of households that owned three electrical appliances and the number of hours spent on housework per week in one country between 1920 and 2019.

Overall, ownership of all three appliances increased considerably over the period. Refrigerators and vacuum cleaners became almost universal, while washing machines also became more common. In contrast, the amount of time spent on housework decreased steadily.

In 1920, around 40% of households had a washing machine, compared with 30% that owned a vacuum cleaner. Refrigerators were almost completely absent at this time. By 1940, washing machine ownership had risen to 60%, while both refrigerators and vacuum cleaners were owned by about 50% of households. In 1960, the figure for refrigerators reached 90%, whereas washing machines and vacuum cleaners were both at around 70%.

After 1960, refrigerator ownership increased to 100% in 1980 and remained at this level until 2019. Vacuum cleaner ownership also rose steadily, reaching 100% in 2000. Washing machine ownership fluctuated slightly, falling from 70% in 1960 to 65% in 1980, before increasing to about 75% in 2019.

Meanwhile, households spent 50 hours per week on housework in 1920. This figure fell to 35 hours in 1940 and 20 hours in 1960. It then declined gradually to around 15 hours in 1980 and 2000, before reaching only 10 hours in 2019.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.5

The response fully addresses all parts of the task by providing a clear summary of the main features and making relevant comparisons across both charts. An effective overview is included, capturing the general upward trend in appliance ownership alongside the downward trend in housework hours. Key data points, such as the 100% saturation for refrigerators and vacuum cleaners by 1980 and 2000 respectively, as well as the initial and final figures for washing machines and housework hours, are accurately reported and supported by the visual data. The student selects appropriate details and presents them in a well-structured manner without unnecessary repetition.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.5

Information and ideas are logically sequenced with a clear overall progression throughout the response. Each paragraph has a distinct and appropriate focus, moving smoothly from an introduction and overview to specific appliance trends, and finally to the data on housework hours. Cohesive devices such as 'In contrast', 'whereas', and 'Meanwhile' are used accurately and flexibly to link ideas and signal comparisons. Paragraphing is used effectively, ensuring that the reader can easily follow the relationships between the various data sets over the 99-year period.

Lexical Resource — Band 7.5

The student demonstrates a wide and appropriate lexical range suited to Task 1 academic writing. Vocabulary related to trends and data reporting is handled well, with terms like 'considerably', 'universal', 'fluctuated', and 'declined gradually' used accurately. Collocations and word choices are natural, and there are no notable spelling or word-choice errors that impede communication. The vocabulary allows for precise descriptions of proportions and timeframes.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.5

A wide variety of complex structures is employed with a high degree of accuracy. The majority of sentences are error-free, featuring effective subordination and coordination, such as 'Refrigerators and vacuum cleaners became almost universal, while washing machines also became more common.' Control of grammar and punctuation is consistently strong across the text, with appropriate tense usage for historical data spanning from 1920 to 2019. Only rare, non-systematic slips are present, which do not interfere with readability.

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