Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-11-13

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 illustrates the percentage of average weekly spending by families in a particular country in 1968 and 2018.

Overall, in 1968, people spent maximum of their budget on food, while in 2018, it waas housing that cost the most. Moreover, in both years families spent least amount of money on fuel and power bills. Also, household goods showed a similar spending in the given years.

In 1968, families spent most of their money on food, which was 35%, compared with 2018, it nearly was half of previous spending, about 17%. Whereas, houseing showed a a similar opposite trend, where in 2018 people spent almost 20% of the weekly income on it, and 10% in 1968. Furthermore, families from 2018, spent their most weekly money on lesure activities, which was over 20%, it was relatbly lower in 1968.

Household goods represented a similar trend in both years about 7% of total expenditure. Others, personal goods was under 5% in 1968, and in increased to 7% in 2018. Moreover, transport money also rose by 7% .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You identify the main shift from food being the largest expense in 1968 (35%) to leisure and housing taking larger shares in 2018, and you include several relevant comparisons, such as food falling to about 17% and housing rising from 10% to nearly 20%. The overview also notes the broadly stable share for household goods. This covers the task well and shows some selection of key features. However, the claim that fuel and power was the smallest category in both years is inaccurate: leisure was the smallest in 1968, while fuel and power was among the lowest in 2018. Some details are also unclear or incorrect, including personal goods being under 5% in 1968 (it was about 8%) and the transport increase being described without its starting and ending figures. More precise coverage would strengthen the response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs of comparisons. This makes the main direction of the report easy to follow, and linking expressions such as “Moreover” and “Furthermore” help connect points. However, some connections are mechanical or unclear. For example, “Whereas, houseing showed a a similar opposite trend” does not clearly explain the contrast, and “it was relatively lower in 1968” has an unclear reference. The final paragraph moves from household goods to personal goods and transport without a consistent comparison pattern, and the transport point is left incomplete. Grouping the largest changes together and comparing each category across both years would create smoother progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for describing a chart, including “percentage,” “weekly income,” “expenditure,” “rose,” and “trend.” These choices make the topic clear, and you attempt some variation rather than relying only on “spent.” However, several word choices and collocations are awkward or imprecise, such as “spent maximum of their budget,” “houseing showed a a similar opposite trend,” and “transport money.” There are also spelling errors, including “waas,” “lesure,” and “relatbly,” which reduce accuracy. Use standard chart language consistently—for example, say that a category “accounted for” a share or that spending “increased by” a stated number of percentage points. More accurate spelling and natural collocations would improve clarity.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and more complex sentences, including relative clauses such as “food, which was 35%” and a comparison using “while.” The overall meaning is generally understandable, but some grammatical errors remain. For example, “people spent maximum of their budget” needs an article and a more complete construction, while “compared with 2018, it nearly was half” has an awkward comparison structure. In “Others, personal goods was under 5%,” the subject and verb do not agree, and the sentence structure is incomplete. The sentence about leisure joins two independent ideas with a comma. Practise forming direct comparisons and checking articles, agreement, and sentence boundaries; this will make your varied structures more controlled.

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