Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · 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)

Student answer (Band 4.0)

The given two line charts depict the changes in ownership of domestic appliance and the period of working time in households in one country from 1920 to 2019.

Overall, according to electrical appliance, the wasching machine accounted for the highest proportion in 1920, similarly there was no one who have a refrigerator in their homes.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 2.5

The response identifies the general subject and gives one relevant comparison: washing machines had the highest ownership among the three appliances in 1920, while refrigerator ownership was almost nonexistent. However, it stops after this brief overview and does not summarise the main changes across 1920–2019, report the later appliance figures, or describe the substantial fall in weekly housework. The claim that “there was no one” with a refrigerator is also too absolute, since the chart shows about 2%. The response is 95 words below the required minimum, which leaves the task substantially incomplete. To improve, include a clear overview of the overall trends and select key figures from both charts to support it.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

There is a basic attempt to organise the response: an introductory sentence is followed by a separate paragraph beginning “Overall,” which signals an overview. The ideas are relevant to the charts, but the response ends before it develops a logical progression or compares the main trends. The overview sentence also combines several points awkwardly, making the relationship between appliance ownership and housework unclear. Use a fuller structure: introduce both charts, give an overview of the dominant trends, then group key appliance figures and housework figures into focused paragraphs. Linking expressions such as “By contrast” or “Meanwhile” can help make comparisons explicit without relying on a single short overview.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

The response uses some appropriate task vocabulary, including “line charts,” “ownership,” “proportion,” and “households,” so the topic is generally recognisable. However, the range is very limited because the response is so brief, and several choices are inaccurate or unnatural: “domestic appliance” should be plural in this context, “period of working time” does not clearly describe housework hours, and “accounted for the highest proportion” is an awkward way to report the chart. There is also a spelling error in “wasching.” Use precise chart language such as “the percentage of households owning…” and “hours spent on housework,” and vary verbs with “rose,” “fell,” “reached,” and “remained stable.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The response contains a few basic sentence forms, including a simple introductory statement and an attempt at a more complex overview. However, grammatical control is uneven. In “the wasching machine accounted for the highest proportion,” the article and noun phrase do not fit the intended plural category, and “there was no one who have a refrigerator” has faulty agreement and verb form. The phrase “according to electrical appliance” also lacks a clear grammatical relationship to the rest of the sentence. Aim for direct, complete constructions, for example, “In 1920, washing machines were the most common appliance, while only around 2% of households had a refrigerator.” Practising accurate clauses and subject–verb agreement will make the comparisons clearer.

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