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 line charts illustrate the changes in ownership of electric appliances and the amount of time spent on household chores in one country between 1920 and 2019. The percentages vary at different points.

Overall, in electric appliance households, the percentages of these three components fluctuate. In per-week households, the percentage first decreased, then remained stable. The highest percentage is for vacuum cleaners. The lowest percentage is for washing machines.

Firstly, the percentage of ho

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.0

The response identifies the two charts and gives a broad attempt at an overview, but it does not adequately summarise the data. The claim that appliance ownership “fluctuate[s]” is inaccurate as a general description: refrigerators and vacuum cleaners rise, while washing-machine ownership changes only slightly after an initial increase. The statement that housework time “first decreased, then remained stable” misses its final fall to about 11 hours. The comparison that vacuum cleaners have the highest percentage is not true throughout the period, and washing machines are not consistently the lowest. Most importantly, the response stops mid-sentence and provides no supporting figures or developed comparisons. It also falls substantially short of the required 150 words. Include a complete overview and key figures for both charts.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 3.5

There is a basic attempt to organise the response: an introduction is followed by an overview and the start of a detail paragraph, with “Overall” and “Firstly” signalling stages. However, the progression is not sustained because the final paragraph breaks off at “the percentage of ho,” leaving the discussion incomplete. The overview also groups the appliance figures and housework figures unclearly, particularly in “in per-week households, the percentage,” which makes the relationship between the charts difficult to follow. The short response offers little opportunity to develop comparisons or use referencing and linking devices effectively. Use separate, clearly focused paragraphs for the overview and the main data, and connect each comparison explicitly to the relevant chart and period.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The response uses a small but relevant set of terms, including “ownership,” “percentages,” “electric appliances,” and “household chores,” so the topic is generally recognisable. There is also some variation in referring to housework. However, the vocabulary is limited and several expressions are imprecise or unnatural: “in electric appliance households” and “in per-week households” do not clearly describe the chart measures, while “three components” is vague for the appliances. “The percentages vary at different points” is also too general to convey the trends. Build a more precise range for describing data, such as “the proportion of households owning…” and “weekly hours spent on housework,” and use trend verbs such as “rose,” “levelled off,” and “declined.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

Several sentences are grammatically understandable, including the opening sentence and the simple statements “The highest percentage is for vacuum cleaners” and “The lowest percentage is for washing machines.” The response also attempts a sequence with “first decreased, then remained stable.” However, the range is narrow, with mostly short, simple statements and little evidence of controlled complex sentence structures. The phrase “in per-week households, the percentage first decreased” has an unclear grammatical relationship between the subject and the chart measure, and “in electric appliance households” is also awkwardly formed. The final sentence is incomplete, ending at “the percentage of ho.” Aim to write complete sentences with clear subjects, for example, “Weekly housework hours fell from…” and check that each sentence has a finite verb and a clear referent.

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