Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-20

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 graphs compare the percentage of households with electical appliances and the amount of time spent doing housework in one country over the period from 1920 to 2019.

Overall, the percentage of people with refrigerator and vaccum cleaner showed an apward trend over the period, while the figure for washing machine declined slightly. In comparison the number of hours of housework per week per household experienced a down trend despite the intial rise.

Looking first to the number of people with electrical appliances. In 1920, washing machine stood at 40% of households, slighthly followed by vacuum cleaner at 30% of households and zero people having refrigerator. Between 1920 and 1940, the figure for vaccum cleaner rose dramatically to nearly 53%. Similarly, referigerator increased significantly to 70% in 1940 and eventually overtook the other machines. Meanwhile, vacuun cleaner rose to nearly 90% and overpassed also washine machine. Over the next years, refrigerature and vaccun machin reached the peak at relatively 100% as the highest point.

Turnning to numbers of hours of housework, in 1920, stood at 50%, which was the highest figure and fell to 20% in 1960. Over the next years, the numb declined to under 20% and increased slightly to 10% in 2019.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the broad contrast between rising appliance ownership and falling housework time, and you include several figures. However, important details are inaccurate or unclear, which limits how fully the charts are reported. Refrigerator ownership was about 2% in 1920, not “zero,” and reached about 55% in 1940, not 70%; the vacuum cleaner was about 50% in 1940, rather than nearly 53%. Your overview also says washing-machine ownership “declined slightly,” although it ended higher than it began, at about 75%, after a small dip. The housework figure fell steadily, rather than rising initially. Report the main trends accurately and compare the series at key dates to make the summary more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate paragraphs for appliance ownership and housework. Phrases such as “Overall,” “Looking first,” and “Turnning to” help signal the stages of the report. However, progression within the appliance paragraph is sometimes difficult to follow because several years and series are compressed together, and “Over the next years” does not specify which period is being discussed. Some linking is also mechanical, with repeated “Meanwhile” and “Similarly.” Make each comparison explicit and organise the appliance figures chronologically, then use clear references such as “by 1960” or “by 2019” to guide the reader.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant trend vocabulary, including “rose dramatically,” “increased significantly,” “overtook,” and “declined.” This gives you a basic range for describing the charts. However, spelling errors and imprecise or unnatural word choices are noticeable and sometimes make the meaning harder to follow: “electical,” “vaccum,” “referigerator,” and “overpassed” are examples. “People with electrical appliances” is also inaccurate for a chart measuring the percentage of households, while “refrigerature” is not the correct term. Use the chart’s categories consistently and choose standard collocations such as “the proportion of households owning” an appliance and “reached a peak” or “levelled off.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mixture of simple and more complex sentences, including clauses linked with “while,” “despite,” and “as.” However, errors occur frequently in sentence construction and make some statements difficult to interpret. For example, “In 1920, washing machine stood at 40%” lacks an article, and “in 1920, stood at 50%” has no clear grammatical subject. The sentence beginning “Meanwhile, vacuum cleaner rose…” also has faulty structure, and “the numb declined” is incomplete or unclear. There are also inconsistent forms and punctuation, including the fragment “Looking first to the number…” and extra spaces after punctuation. Practise complete subject–verb sentences and check articles, verb forms, and sentence boundaries.

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