Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-03

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 ownership of electrical appliances-washing machine, refrigerator, and vacuum cleaner and the number of hours of housework, per week, in households in one country between 1920 and 2019.

Overall, washing machine accounted for the highest percentage of ownership in 1920, while refrigerator accounted the lowest. By 2020, refrigerator and vacuum cleaner accounted the highest ownership superpasing washing machine ownership. The amount of time spent on housework decreased considerably over the period, falling from 50 hours per week in 1920 to just 10 hours in 2019. The figure declined steadily until 1980, remained stable until 2000, and then fell again by 20

The proportion of ownership of refrigerator increased from 0% in 1920 to 100% in 1980, whereas vacuum cleaner were owned by 30% in 1920, which then rise to 50% in 1940 and reached to 100% in 2019. The proportion of ownership of washing machine first rise to 60% in 1940 and then reached to 73% in 2019. However, all appliances ownership were increased but number of hours spent on housework per week demonstrate the rapid declined throughout the period, 50 hours per week in 1920 to 10 hours per week in 2019.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by reporting the main features of both appliance ownership and housework hours, and makes some relevant comparisons between them. However, some aspects are under-developed or inaccurately presented. For example, the student states that the refrigerator accounted for the lowest ownership in 1920 (at 2%, which is correct) but then refers to 2020 instead of 2019, and cuts off mid-sentence at the end of the second paragraph ('and then fell again by 20'). The selection of data is generally relevant, and an overview is attempted, but a tendency to rush through specific data points without fully extending the comparisons prevents the response from reaching a higher band level.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response exhibits a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt at an overview in the second paragraph and supporting details in the third. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical and referencing can be unclear, such as the abrupt ending in the second paragraph which disrupts the logical progression. Paragraphing is attempted, though the division of ideas could be managed more effectively to ensure a smoother flow of information between the overview and the body details. Cohesive devices like 'whereas' and 'however' are used, but their application is occasionally repetitive or clumsy, pulling down the overall flow of the text.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'proportion', 'ownership', and 'considerably'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as 'superpasing' instead of 'surpassing', and repetitive phrasing like 'proportion of ownership' used multiple times. Spelling and word-form errors occur—for instance, 'rise' used instead of 'rose', and 'declined' used as a noun instead of 'decline' ('rapid declined'). These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they reflect a limited precision that keeps the lexical score at this level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as using 'whereas' and 'although'-type contrasts. However, there are frequent errors in grammar, including tense inconsistencies (e.g., mixing past and present reference points), missing articles ('washing machine' instead of 'the washing machine'), subject-verb agreement issues (e.g., 'all appliances ownership were increased'), and faulty prepositional or structural patterns (e.g., 'reached to'). These errors require some effort from the reader to untangle, though meaning is usually still retrievable, placing the grammatical control squarely within this band.

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

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