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 line graph compares the changes in ownership of electrical appliances and total time spent in a country household from 1920 to 2019.

Overall, in starting washing machines at highest ratio in household usage while vacuum was second highest in proportion but number of hours declined all over the time period.

Firstly, refrigerator percentage in 1920 started from 0% but after 20 years it rose to 55% and increased in all years to 2019. However vacuum cleaner and washing machine both started with highest percentage in 1920 at 30% and 40% respectively. Vacuum cleaner accounted for escalated sharply at 100% while washing machine household percentage rose steadily to 2019 at 70%.

Secondly, highest hours were in 1920 at 50 hours while it slowly reduce to 35 hours in 1940 and sunk next all years from 1980 to 2019. Only 10 hours used in 2019 and in last 39 years it was almost same hours used for household.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the broad patterns: appliance ownership generally increased, while time spent on housework fell. However, the overview is unclear (“washing machines at highest ratio”) and does not accurately capture the main comparisons: refrigerators reached 100% by 1980, vacuum cleaners by 2000, while washing machines remained lower and dipped slightly in 1980. Some figures are inaccurate or imprecise: refrigerators began at about 2%, not 0%, and washing-machine ownership ended at 75%, not 70%. Housework fell to 15 hours in both 1980 and 2000 before reaching about 11 in 2019, rather than being almost unchanged throughout the final 39 years. The response is also one word below the 150-word minimum. Add a clearer overview and report the key stages more precisely.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic structure, with an opening, an overview, and two paragraphs introduced by “Firstly” and “Secondly.” This gives the reader some sense of how the information is grouped. However, progression is weakened by the unclear overview and by sentences that combine several trends without clear relationships, such as the sentence beginning “However vacuum cleaner and washing machine both started.” The connectors are limited and sometimes do not express the intended contrast or sequence. The final paragraph also moves between the 1940 figure, later years, and the 2019 figure without clearly distinguishing the stages. Organise the appliance trends together in a clear sequence, then describe housework hours, using precise links such as “by contrast” and “thereafter.”

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant task vocabulary, including “percentage,” “household,” “rose,” “declined,” and “hours,” so the topic is generally understandable. There are also attempts to vary expression, such as “rose steadily” and “sunk.” However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, including “highest ratio in household usage,” “accounted for escalated sharply,” and “slowly reduce.” These choices sometimes make the trend difficult to interpret. “Proportion” is suitable, but the response would benefit from more precise verbs for chart movement and clearer phrases for ownership and time. Aim for natural combinations such as “the proportion of households owning…” and “fell gradually,” and avoid using “ratio” when describing a percentage.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more developed sentences, including a contrast introduced by “However” and a time clause beginning “after 20 years.” Nevertheless, errors are frequent, and some sentence structures are difficult to follow. For example, “Overall, in starting washing machines at highest ratio” lacks a clear grammatical structure, while “washing machine household percentage rose steadily to 2019 at 70%” has an awkwardly ordered clause. Verb forms are also inconsistent: “it slowly reduce” should be “it slowly reduced,” and “hours used” needs a clearer construction such as “hours were spent.” Articles and sentence punctuation are also unreliable. Build accurate simple sentences first, then add subordinate clauses, checking subject–verb agreement, tense, and complete sentence structure.

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