Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-14

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 chart compares the changes in the ownsership of electrical appliances, and the amount of time invested in the housework in one country between 1920 and 2019.

Overall, the ownership of refrigerator and the vacuum cleaner increased substantially over the period, while the ownership of the washing machine initially increased, after which it fluctuated, meanwhile the number of hours per week declined steadily over the period.

First of all, the percentage of the vacuum cleaner were 0% in 1920, but it increased steadily to 55% in 1940 and 90% in 1960, reaching almost 100% in between [redacted phone]. Moreover, the figures of vacuum cleaner were at 30% in 1920, which rose sharply to 50%-70% in 1940 and 1960, it then continued rising to 90%-100% between [redacted phone].

Secondly, The percentage of washing machine were slightly different, it accounted for 40% in 1920, and rose up to 60-70% in [redacted phone], and declined considerably to 62% in 1980, reaching around 70-73% in [redacted phone]. Furthermore, the amount of time spent in housework decreased subsequentally, from 50% in 1920, and declining to 10% in 2019.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You provide an overview that identifies the broad rise in appliance ownership and the decline in housework, and you include several comparisons across the period. However, some key data are misreported or assigned to the wrong appliance: the first sentence says vacuum-cleaner ownership was 0% in 1920 and reached 55% in 1940 and 90% in 1960, whereas those figures largely describe the refrigerator; the vacuum cleaner began at 30%. The next sentence repeats vacuum-cleaner figures, so the refrigerator is not accurately summarised. The housework figure is also given as a percentage rather than hours, and the 2019 value is about 11 hours. To make the report more complete and reliable, distinguish all three appliance series and report the units accurately.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview and two detail paragraphs, with sequencing phrases such as “Overall,” “First of all” and “Secondly.” This gives the reader a basic route through the information. However, progression is weakened by the repeated and confusing treatment of vacuum-cleaner data: the first detail sentence appears to describe the refrigerator, but labels it as the vacuum cleaner, and the following sentence again discusses the vacuum cleaner. “Moreover” therefore connects information that is not clearly distinguished. The final paragraph also combines washing-machine figures and housework without a clear transition. Group the three appliance trends together, then describe housework separately, and use references that make each series unmistakable.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of task-related vocabulary, including “increased substantially,” “fluctuated,” “declined steadily” and “rose sharply,” which helps describe trends. There are also attempts at more formal phrasing, such as “accounted for” and “amount of time spent.” Some word choices and collocations are inaccurate or awkward, however: “the changes in the ownsership” contains a spelling error, “time invested in the housework” is unnatural, and “the figures of vacuum cleaner” is not an appropriate way to refer to household ownership percentages. “Subsequentally” is also misspelled. Choose standard chart language such as “the proportion of households owning…” and check spelling and collocations to make the report more precise.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentences, including clauses with “while,” “after which” and “which rose,” and the overall meaning is generally understandable. However, some errors in agreement, articles and sentence construction remain. For example, “the percentage … were” should use a singular verb, and “the ownership of refrigerator” needs an article or plural form. The sentence beginning “First of all” joins clauses with a comma, while “it accounted for 40% … and rose up to…” has an unclear grammatical subject. The final sentence also shifts awkwardly from “decreased” to “declining.” Use a clear subject for each trend, maintain parallel verb forms, and separate independent clauses with appropriate punctuation.

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