Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-11-02

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 chart illustrates the changes in ownership of electrical appliances and time invested in doing house chores in households in a country between 1920 to 2019.

Overall, household with electrical appliances increased throughout the years while the hours spend on house work decreased over the years.

In 1920, washing machine was 0% it increased to 50% in 1940,and by 1990 the number of people who used electrical appliances increased to 100%and it remain stable till the end of the year, people who used vacuum cleaner was about at about 30% at the beginning, but it rose to about 100% in 2019.

The hours people spend on house work was about 50 hours per week in 1920, however it reduced to about 20 hours in 1960, 13 hours in 1980 and by 2019 it decline to about 10hours.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the broad contrast: appliance ownership generally rose while housework time fell, and you include several relevant figures, such as 50 hours in 1920 and about 20 in 1960. However, the response only partially reports the chart. The washing-machine figure of 0% in 1920 is inaccurate (it is about 40%), and the reference to 1990 is not a chart year; the refrigerator’s rise to full ownership by 1980 is also omitted. The overview is too general to capture the different appliance patterns, including the washing machine’s slight dip. The response is 130 words, below the required 150, which limits the detail provided. Add accurate comparisons across all three appliances and develop the overview.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear basic structure: an introduction, an overview and two detail paragraphs. The overall contrast is easy to follow, and words such as “Overall,” “however” and “but” help connect ideas. However, the appliance details are crowded into one long sentence, making the sequence of figures difficult to track; the shift from washing machines to vacuum cleaners is especially abrupt. The final paragraph reports housework figures in chronological order, which is effective, but could be linked more explicitly to the appliance trends. Use separate sentences or grouped comparisons for each appliance, and make references such as “it” unambiguous. This would make the progression more controlled rather than relying on a small set of basic connectors.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant task vocabulary, including “ownership,” “electrical appliances,” “increased,” “reduced” and “stable,” so the main trends can be understood. However, the range is limited and some expressions are imprecise or repetitive. “People who used electrical appliances” does not accurately describe the chart, which shows the percentage of households owning each appliance; “household ownership” or “households with” would be more precise. “Time invested in doing house chores” is also an awkward collocation, and “house work” is repeated rather than varied. There are also word-form and spacing issues, such as “hours spend” and “10hours.” Aim for concise, accurate trend language and use the chart’s categories consistently.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more extended sentence forms, including a contrast with “however,” and the main meaning is generally recoverable. Some errors in verb forms, agreement, articles and punctuation remain. For example, “the hours spend” should be “the hours spent,” while “it decline” needs “it declined.” The opening phrase “between 1920 to 2019” uses an incorrect preposition pattern; write “between 1920 and 2019.” In “washing machine was 0%,” the article and sentence structure are incomplete, and the long appliance sentence needs clearer punctuation. These errors do not usually prevent understanding, but they reduce accuracy. Practise complete comparative sentences and check tense consistency when describing past data.

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