Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-21
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 charts shows the variations in the ownership of the electrical appliances and the amount of time consumed by the housework in households in a single nation from 1920 to 2019.
Overall, the percentage of households that owned washing machine gradually increased over the period. In compare, the percentage of people owning refrigerator has increased drastically recordeing the highest level of proportion at the end of the period along with the proportion of people owning the vacuume cleaner.Whereas, people workded in the home had decreased over the years.
At the start of 1920, consumers of washing machine recorded the highest percentage, at 40 percent. In contrast, at the same period users of rerigerator were nill. Percentage of using vacuum cleaner were 30% in 1920, and then Increased steadily over the next four decades until 2000. Between 2000 and 2019 it remained unchanged at 100 percent and recorded the highest amount of users jointly with refrigerator.In the percentage of washing machine users, there was no huge change over the period while fluctuated last three decades and recorded its highest proportion of users at the end of 2019, at 75 percent.
The number of hours people worked per week in 1920 was at 50. While it decreased steadily till 1960. The with small fluctuation remained almost same for the next three decades and end up at 10 hours of work in 2019.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response successfully addresses all parts of the task by reporting the main features of both charts and making relevant comparisons. The overview captures the general upward trend in appliance ownership alongside the decline in housework hours. Key data points are selected appropriately, such as the starting and ending figures for washing machines, refrigerators, and vacuum cleaners, as well as the drop in housework hours from 50 to around 11 hours per week. While there are a few minor inaccuracies in quoting exact numbers (for instance, stating housework ended at 10 hours rather than approximately 11, and minor misreadings of the 1920 figures), the overall reporting is accurate enough to meet the requirements of Band 6.5, leaning towards Band 7 for its clear selection of main trends.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response has a clear overall arrangement and is divided into appropriate paragraphs, starting with an introduction and overview, followed by body paragraphs for appliance ownership and housework hours respectively. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Overall', 'In compare', and 'In contrast', though some are mechanically applied or awkward (e.g., 'In compare'). Referencing is generally clear, but the logical progression within paragraphs occasionally falters due to abrupt transitions between specific data points. Paragraphing is handled sufficiently, but paragraph breaks do not always align perfectly with thematic shifts, justifying a solid Band 6.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student displays an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common items such as 'variations', 'gradually increased', 'drastically', and 'fluctuated'. However, there are noticeable word-choice and collocation errors throughout the text, such as 'amount of time consumed by the housework' instead of spent on housework, 'In compare' instead of In comparison, 'vacuume' (spelling error), 'rerigerator' (spelling error), 'nill' instead of nil or zero, and 'consumers of washing machine'. These errors do not impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score to Band 6.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The response employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'Overall, the percentage of households that owned washing machine gradually increased over the period.' However, there are frequent grammatical errors, including missing articles ('owned washing machine', 'percentage of people owning refrigerator'), incorrect verb forms ('people workded in the home had decreased', 'Percentage of using vacuum cleaner'), and awkward phrasing ('The with small fluctuation remained'). Despite these errors, the meaning remains mostly clear, which fits the descriptor for Band 6.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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