Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-13

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)

cambridge writing task 1

Student answer (Band 5.5)

There are two charts given, showing the use of electrical appliances and house work done in number of hours in one country between 1920 and 2019.

According to first chart, the use of refrigerator abruptly increases from 1920 onwards to 100 percent till 1960 where it becomes constant. The use of washing machine increases after 1920 to 70 percent then dcreases reaching 1980 and again increases gradually to almost 72 percent around 2019.Household work with the help of vaccum cleaner is seen in 1920 that goes upward to 100 percent till 2000 and it's use is same till date. Among all these three, the percentage work done by washing machine is low.

The second chart represents number of hours per week spent on housework from 1920 to 2019. There is sudden decrease in hours from 50 to nearby 12 hours a week by 1980 which almost remained a bit fluctuating before 2019. By the year 2019 the number of hours per week now are 10.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the two charts and report the broad pattern that appliance ownership generally rose while housework hours fell. However, several key details are inaccurate or unclear, which limits how fully the task is addressed. Refrigerators reached 100% by 1980, not 1960; washing-machine ownership dipped to about 65% in 1980 before rising to 75% in 2019; and housework fell to around 15 hours by 1980, then stayed level until 2000 before declining to 11. The statement that washing machines account for the lowest percentage is also misleading: they are lowest only in the final years, not throughout. Add a clear overview comparing the main trends and report the stages more precisely.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a generally coherent order: it first discusses appliance ownership and then turns to housework hours. The opening also establishes the time period and subject, and phrases such as “The second chart” help signal the shift. However, the first chart’s three series are crowded into one paragraph, and some references are difficult to follow—for example, “Household work with the help of vaccum cleaner” could mean appliance ownership rather than housework performed. The overview is not clearly separated from the details, and the final sentence repeats the 2019 figure without adding a comparison. Use a distinct overview, then group related trends and connect them with clear, varied transitions.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant chart vocabulary, including “increases,” “decrease,” “percentage,” and “remained,” so the main trends are usually understandable. There is some attempt at more specific language, such as “gradually” and “fluctuating,” but several choices are imprecise or unnatural: “use of refrigerator” is better expressed as household ownership, and “percentage work done by washing machine” does not accurately describe the data. “Abruptly” also overstates the refrigerator’s rise, while “nearby” is not the right word for an approximate figure. Spelling errors such as “dcreases” and “vaccum” further reduce accuracy. Build a more precise range for describing proportions, peaks, plateaus and declines, and check spelling.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You communicate the main ideas using both simple sentences and some more extended structures, including “The use of washing machine increases … then decreases … and again increases.” However, control is uneven, and some sentence patterns are difficult to process. For example, “from 1920 onwards to 100 percent till 1960 where it becomes constant” combines time expressions awkwardly and does not clearly show when the figure reaches 100%. There are also errors in articles and number agreement, as in “the number of hours per week now are 10,” and punctuation is missing after “2019” before the next sentence. Use past-tense reporting consistently for this historical period, and practise shorter, accurately punctuated comparisons alongside complex sentences.

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