Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-11-11

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The chart below gives information about how families in one country spent their weekly income in 1968 and in 2018.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

1968 and 2018: average weekly spending by families

Student answer (Band 6.0)

The bar chart compares the percentages of how the families in a country used to manage their weekly expenses in 1968 and 2018.

Overall, the considerable amount of income were spent on food, housing and leisure were the second major factors. However, the percentage of other factors were compatibly lower than food, housing and leisure.

In 1968, people used to spent most of their earnings in food, accounted to 35%, whereas housing, clothing and footwear both accounted to 10% and were on the second priority where people use their money. Furthermore, the amount used on other factors such as household goods, personal goods and transport were relatively the same, around 8%.

In contrast, in 2018, the percentage of food declined drastically to around 17% and leisure’s spent percentage surge dramatically to around 23%. Housing proportion significantly increased to 19% and transport rose by 14%. However, others were less than 8%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main shift clearly: food falls from 35% to about 17%, while leisure and housing become much larger shares in 2018. You also report several relevant figures, including housing at 10% in 1968 and 19% in 2018, and transport at 14% in 2018. However, the overview is not fully precise: saying that housing and leisure were the “second major factors” does not distinguish their different positions across the two years. Some categories are also grouped too broadly; “others were less than 8%” overlooks household goods, which remained at 8%, and does not identify the declines in fuel, clothing, and personal goods. A clearer overview and more selective comparisons would make the key features more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, an overview, and separate paragraphs for 1968 and 2018. The contrast marker “In contrast” helps signal the change between years, and the information generally progresses in a sensible order. This is a coherent structure, though some links and references are not fully clear. For example, “housing, clothing and footwear both” is confusing because it names three categories but then uses “both”; the reader must infer that housing and clothing are each 10%. The overview also combines several ideas in a sentence that is difficult to follow. Use more precise links and refer to categories consistently, while keeping the useful year-by-year organisation.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use a reasonable range of task-related vocabulary, including “declined drastically,” “surge dramatically,” “proportion,” and “accounted to,” showing an effort to describe trends rather than simply repeat figures. Some choices, however, are inaccurate or unnatural for this chart. “Manage their weekly expenses” suggests a method of budgeting rather than the share of income spent, while “housing and leisure were the second major factors” is imprecise. “Compatibly lower” is not the intended meaning, and “leisure’s spent percentage” is an awkward construction. Spelling is mostly clear, although the standard form is “footwear.” Aim for accurate collocations such as “accounted for,” “share of weekly income,” and “expenditure on leisure.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentences, including a contrast clause beginning “whereas” and a sentence introduced by “However.” The main comparisons remain understandable, but some grammatical errors recur. In the overview, “the considerable amount of income were spent” has a subject–verb agreement problem, and “housing and leisure were the second major factors” creates an unclear sentence structure. “People used to spent” should use the base form after “used to,” while “housing, clothing and footwear both accounted” has faulty agreement and sentence construction. These errors do not usually prevent the reader from understanding the figures, but they limit accuracy. Check agreement, verb forms, and sentence structure, especially when combining several categories.

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