Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

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

We see a huge difference in the percentage of spendings on food weekly between 1968 which was approximately 35% of the family's weekly income and a 2018 family, the percentage shrunk to ~16%. On the other hand, the percentage of weekly income spent on housing has grown from 1968 which was 10%, to around 19% in 2018, which indicates the growth of housing pricing. Families used to spend 6% on fuel and power weekly in 1968, which became less than 5% in 2018. Clothing and footwear used to consume 10% of the families weekly income in 1968, that number was divided by half in 2018. Household goods expenses are still the same. Personal goods was ~6% in 1968, it's ~4% in 2018. Transport on the other hand grew from ~7% in 1968 to approximately double in 2018. Finally, Leisure expenses grew from 9% to 21% which is a huge change from 1968 to 2018.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response covers all the main features of the chart, including the significant shifts in food and leisure spending. You successfully identify the key trends and make relevant comparisons between the two years. However, the response lacks an overview paragraph, which is essential for a Band 7 or higher. While you mention individual data points, you do not synthesize the information to highlight the most significant overall changes (e.g., the shift from essential spending to discretionary spending). To improve, ensure you include a clear summary of the main trends in an introductory or concluding paragraph rather than just listing data points.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response is organized as a single block of text, which makes it difficult to follow. IELTS Task 1 requires clear paragraphing to separate the introduction/overview from the body paragraphs. While you use some cohesive devices like 'On the other hand' and 'Finally', the flow is somewhat mechanical. The progression of ideas is logical, but the lack of paragraph breaks hinders the overall coherence. To improve, structure your response into an introduction, an overview paragraph, and one or two body paragraphs to group related data points together.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'percentage', 'income', and 'expenses' correctly. However, the range is somewhat limited and repetitive. Phrases like 'huge difference' and 'huge change' are quite informal and lack precision. There are also minor errors in word choice, such as 'housing pricing' (should be 'housing costs') and 'that number was divided by half' (which is mathematically imprecise). To reach a higher band, try to incorporate more varied synonyms and precise collocations related to data description, such as 'expenditure', 'fluctuated', or 'accounted for'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The response uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors. For example, the opening sentence is missing a preposition ('about how families... spent' should be 'about how families spent' or 'about the way families spent'). There are also issues with subject-verb agreement and punctuation, such as 'Personal goods was ~6%' (should be 'were'). While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the data, they are frequent enough to limit the score. Focus on proofreading for basic subject-verb agreement and ensuring prepositions are used correctly.

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