Band 7.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-07-26

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 7.5)

The bar chart depicts the way families spent their weekly income in a country in two time periods: 1968 and 2018.

Overall, the priority of expenditure shifted from food to other areas such as housing, transport and leisure within 50 years time.

In 1968, majority of the households' expense accounted for food with 35% of weekly spending being allocated for it. Similarly, expense on clothing and footware included 10% of families' weekly spent funds, while transport, personal goods, household goods and leisure related spending was in the range of around 8-9%.

However, in 2018, the food related expense dropped under 20%. Although weekly spending on household goods remained same as before, there was a decline in expense covering clothing or footware and personal goods, which accounted for 5% and 4% respectively. Furthermore, in the domain such as transport and leisure, the average weekly money used up was 14% and around 23% respectively. Finally, while fuel and power saw a drop to 4%, housing expense increased to around 19%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.5

You have successfully identified the main trends and provided a clear overview of the shifts in spending patterns between 1968 and 2018. You covered all categories mentioned in the chart and made relevant comparisons, such as the decline in food expenditure versus the rise in housing and leisure costs. The data is accurately reported, and the response is well-structured to meet the requirements of an Academic Task 1. To reach a higher band, ensure that all data points are clearly linked to the specific years to avoid any ambiguity, and consider grouping the categories more strategically to highlight the most significant changes.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.5

The response is logically organized with a clear introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs. You use cohesive devices such as 'However', 'Similarly', and 'Furthermore' to guide the reader through the data. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the two time periods. The progression of ideas is clear, though some transitions could be more sophisticated to improve the flow. For instance, the link between the overview and the first body paragraph is functional but could be more seamless. Overall, the information is presented in a coherent manner that is easy to follow.

Lexical Resource — Band 7.0

You demonstrate a sufficient range of vocabulary to describe the data, using terms like 'expenditure', 'allocated', 'domain', and 'accounted for'. There are some minor inaccuracies in word choice, such as 'footware' (spelled 'footwear') and 'weekly spent funds', which is slightly awkward. While you use some topic-specific vocabulary, incorporating a wider variety of synonyms for 'increase' and 'decrease' (e.g., 'surged', 'plummeted', 'witnessed a marginal rise') would enhance the precision of your report. The vocabulary used is adequate for the task and does not impede communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, which is appropriate for this task. There are some grammatical slips, such as 'majority of the households' expense' (should be 'the majority of household expenses') and 'remained same as before' (should be 'remained the same as before'). Additionally, 'in the domain such as' is slightly unnatural. Despite these errors, your meaning is always clear, and the punctuation is generally accurate. To improve, focus on article usage and ensuring subject-verb agreement in more complex sentences.

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