IELTS Task 1 Sample Answer With Every Criterion Explained

A sample answer with a band printed above it teaches almost nothing. You cannot see which sentences earned the band, which sentences cost marks, or what would have to change to move the number.

So this page goes the other way round. One complete Academic Task 1 answer, then each of the four criteria with the sentences behind it, and then the same answer rewritten to show what one band higher actually looks like.

Every number on this page is an estimate produced by Bandly's scoring engine. No qualified examiner has marked this answer. The reasoning is the useful part; treat the numbers as a guide.

The question

The chart below shows the percentage of households in one European country that owned a car, a computer and a mobile phone in 1995, 2005 and 2015. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.

The data behind it: car ownership 62, 68 and 71 percent across the three years. Computer ownership 18, 55 and 79 percent. Mobile phone ownership 9, 74 and 96 percent.

The answer, 168 words

The bar chart illustrates the proportion of households in a European country which owned three different items, namely a car, a computer and a mobile phone, in the years 1995, 2005 and 2015.

Overall, it is clear that ownership of all three items increased over the period. However, the growth in mobile phone and computer ownership was far more dramatic than the growth in car ownership, and by 2015 the mobile phone had become the most commonly owned item.

In 1995, the car was the most popular item, owned by 62 percent of households. Computers were owned by only 18 percent, while mobile phones were owned by a mere 9 percent of households.

By 2005, the situation had changed significantly. Mobile phone ownership rised to 74 percent, overtaking both other items, and computers were owned by 55 percent of households. Car ownership increased only slightly to 68 percent. This trend continued until 2015, when 96 percent of households owned a mobile phone, 79 percent owned a computer, and 71 percent owned a car.

The four estimates

Task Achievement, estimated 7

Task Achievement in Task 1 is not about opinion. It asks whether you selected the important features, reported them accurately, and gave an overview.

The overview is present and it is in the right place:

Overall, it is clear that ownership of all three items increased over the period. However, the growth in mobile phone and computer ownership was far more dramatic than the growth in car ownership, and by 2015 the mobile phone had become the most commonly owned item.

That does three things correctly. It states the shared direction, it names the contrast that matters, and it identifies the change in rank. An answer with no overview is capped at band 5 for this criterion however good the rest is.

What holds it at 7 is selection. Every figure in the chart appears in the answer, which means the candidate reported rather than selected. Band 8 usually shows judgement about which numbers carry the story and which can be grouped.

Coherence and Cohesion, estimated 7

Paragraphing is correct. Introduction, overview, then the detail split by period. A reader is never lost.

The cost is the shape of the progression. The third and fourth paragraphs both open with a date and then run through the same three items in the same order. That is organised, but it is organisation by the chart's layout rather than by the writer's argument. Band 8 cohesion usually groups by trend instead: the two items that surged in one paragraph, the one that barely moved in another. There is more on this in our guide to Coherence and Cohesion.

Lexical Resource, estimated 6

The range is adequate. "Proportion", "namely", "a mere", "overtaking" and "dramatic" are all used correctly, and the paraphrase of the question in the first sentence avoids copying.

Two things hold it at 6. The first is repetition of one structure: "owned by 62 percent of households", "owned by only 18 percent", "owned by a mere 9 percent", "were owned by 55 percent". Four passives with the same frame in eight sentences reads as one pattern reused, not as range.

The second is precision. "The car was the most popular item" is slightly off; popularity is about preference, and the chart shows ownership. Small mismatches of this kind are what separate band 6 from band 7 on this criterion more often than vocabulary size does.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy, estimated 6

There is real range here. The relative clause in the first sentence, the participle in "overtaking both other items", and the past perfect in "had changed significantly" are all band 7 structures used correctly.

One error pulls it down:

Mobile phone ownership rised to 74 percent

"Rised" is not a form. The verb is rise, rose, risen. A single error of this kind in a 168 word answer is visible, and Task 1 answers are short enough that one clear mistake changes the proportion of error free sentences noticeably.

The same answer one band higher

Here are the two detail paragraphs rewritten. Nothing was added to the data; only the grouping and the accuracy changed.

In 1995 the car was by far the most widely owned of the three, at 62 percent, while computers and mobile phones reached only 18 and 9 percent respectively. The following two decades reversed that position entirely. Mobile phone ownership rose to 74 percent by 2005 and to 96 percent by 2015, and computer ownership followed a similar path, climbing to 55 and then 79 percent.

Car ownership, by contrast, barely moved. It gained six percentage points between 1995 and 2005 and a further three by 2015, finishing at 71 percent, which left it the least owned of the three items by the end of the period.

What changed: the grouping is now by trend rather than by year, "respectively" and "by contrast" do the comparison work that repeated passives were doing, "rised" is corrected, and the final clause states the ranking change rather than leaving the reader to calculate it.

What to do with this

Take a Task 1 answer you have already written. Find your overview sentence. If you cannot point to one, that is the first fix and it is worth more than any vocabulary work. Then check whether your detail paragraphs are grouped by trend or simply by the order of the chart.

When you want a second opinion on where an answer sits, you can paste it into Bandly for an estimated band on each criterion with the sentences behind it. The estimates come from a scoring engine rather than a qualified examiner, so use them to find the weak criterion, not to predict your test day result.