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 how families in particular country spent their weekly expenditure in 1968 and in 2018.

According to figure, in year 1968 food spending was almost 35 % from weekly income, whereas housing and clothing and footware relatively same approximately 10 %. Household goods, personal goods and transport weekly spending was almost same at 8 %. Weekly expenditure of leisure activity was merely 9 %. Whereas fuel and power spending was about 6 % in 1968.

In year 2018, spending of food was approximately 17 %, followed by housing has 18 % and leisure activity stood at 22 %. Fuel , power and personal goods accounted same 4 %. Clothing and footware spending was merely 5 %, foolowed by household goods was nearly 7 %. Remaine transport category has about 14 % weekly income spending in 2018.

Overall, food spending recorded highest in 1968. In contray, spending in leisure actuvity was highest in 2018. fuel and power and personal goods recorded lowest in both 1968 and 2018.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You cover both years and identify the main shift: food is the largest category in 1968, while leisure is largest in 2018. You also report most categories with figures that broadly match the chart, including food at about 35% and 17%, and transport at about 8% and 14%. The overview is relevant, but its claim that fuel and personal goods were the lowest in both years is inaccurate: in 2018, fuel and personal goods are tied at about 4%, but fuel alone is lowest in 1968, at about 6%. Some comparisons could be made more explicit, especially the substantial fall in food and the rise in housing and leisure. More precise selection and comparison of key changes would strengthen the summary.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph for each year, and a concluding overview. This makes the information easy to locate, and phrases such as “whereas” and “followed by” help signal comparisons and rankings. However, the progression within the year-by-year paragraphs is sometimes list-like, and the final overview repeats rankings rather than drawing together the most important changes across the two years. The opening “Whereas fuel and power…” is also a fragment, while “Remaine transport category” makes the transition unclear. Grouping categories that rose, fell or stayed similar, and using clearer links between those groups, would make cohesion more flexible and less mechanical.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant chart vocabulary, including “weekly income,” “accounted,” “stood at” and “recorded highest,” so the topic is generally clear. However, the range is limited and several phrases are unnatural or imprecise, such as “weekly expenditure of leisure activity,” “spending of food” and “has 18%.” Repetition of “spending” and “weekly” also makes the report less fluent. There are noticeable spelling errors, including “footware,” “foolowed,” “Remaine,” “contray” and “actuvity”; these reduce accuracy even though the intended meaning is usually recoverable. Aim for standard collocations for describing proportions and check spelling carefully. More precise vocabulary would help distinguish increases, decreases and stable figures.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt some complex comparisons, particularly with “whereas,” and the reader can generally understand the figures. However, grammatical control is inconsistent, and several sentence patterns are incomplete or awkward. For example, “Whereas fuel and power spending was about 6%” is a dependent clause without a main clause, and “followed by housing has 18%” combines incompatible structures. Articles and prepositions are also often missing or misplaced, as in “in particular country” and “35% from weekly income.” The response relies heavily on simple listing, with limited accurate variety in sentence structures. Practise complete clauses and consistent comparison patterns, such as “Housing accounted for 10%, compared with 19% in 2018,” and check verb forms and sentence boundaries.

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