Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-30

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 7.0)

The line graphs compare the variation in the number of families that owns washing machine, refrigerator and vacuum cleaner and the length of time spent on household chores in a country from 1920 to 2019.

Overall, the percentage of household ownership of electrical appliances saw an upward trend, even though refrigerators were least owned in 1920, it rose significantly and became the highest alongside with vacuum cleaner at the end of the period. The amount of time spent on house work declined steadily.

In 1920, about 2% households had refrigerator, this increased dramatically to 100% in 1980 then it levelled off until 2019. Vacuum cleaner followed the same pattern from 30% in 1920 to 100% in 2000 and it remained stable until the end of the period. Conversely, washing machine ownership was the highest in 1920 at 40% before rising to 70% in 1960 then went down to around 64% in 1980 before rising, by 2019 approximately 74% families owned washing machines.

Furthermore, the amount of time spent washing clothes, preparing meals and cleaning dropped sharply from around 50 hours per week in 1920 to 20 hours in 1960, after this fell steadily and ended the period at about 12 hours per week.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.5

The response selects the main trends and supports them with relevant figures: refrigerator ownership rises from about 2% to 100%, vacuum-cleaner ownership reaches 100% by 2000, and housework time falls from 50 to around 12 hours. The overview also captures the broad contrast between increasing appliance ownership and declining housework. The comparison of washing machines is useful, including the dip around 1980 and subsequent recovery. However, the overview’s claim that refrigerators became the highest “alongside” vacuum cleaners is imprecise: refrigerators reached 100% by 1980, while vacuum cleaners did so by 2000, and washing machines remained lower. More precise comparisons of the final figures and the timing of these milestones would make the summary more fully developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.5

The response is organised effectively into an introduction, an overview, and two detail paragraphs. Information progresses logically from the overall trends to appliance ownership and then housework hours. Linking expressions such as “Overall,” “Conversely,” and “Furthermore” help signal the relationships between points, and the chronological descriptions are generally easy to follow. Some cohesion is less controlled: “even though” introduces a contrast that is not clearly completed, and “alongside with” makes the comparison awkward. The final paragraph is clear but could connect more explicitly to the appliance trends, for example by highlighting that housework time fell as ownership increased. More precise linking and reference would make the progression smoother.

Lexical Resource: Band 7.0

There is a good range of task-appropriate vocabulary, including “upward trend,” “levelled off,” “followed the same pattern,” “declined steadily,” and “dropped sharply.” These choices help describe changes and comparisons without excessive repetition. Some collocations and word forms are less natural, such as “the variation in the number of families that owns” and “alongside with vacuum cleaner”; “house work” is also conventionally written as one word. “Length of time spent on household chores” is clear, though “time spent doing housework” would be more concise and natural. To strengthen precision, use standard chart language consistently, such as “the proportion of households owning” appliances, and choose collocations carefully when describing ownership and comparisons.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

The response uses a mix of simple and complex structures, including a clear overview and clauses with “before” and “after.” Most meanings remain easy to understand, but some grammatical errors persist. In the opening, “families that owns” has a subject–verb agreement error; “households that own” would be correct. The overview’s “even though …, it rose” creates an awkwardly joined sentence, and “it levelled off” has an unclear reference. In the washing-machine sentence, “before rising to 70% … then went down” shifts the grammatical structure; parallel phrasing would improve control. Articles and plurals also need attention in “2% households” and “washing machine ownership.” More consistently accurate complex sentences would strengthen the response.

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