Band 7.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-07-29

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 provided horizontal bar graph compares the proportion of average weekly spending by families in a country on eight various categories in 1968 and 2018.

In 1968, food stood at 35%, which was the highest proportion among all. It dramatically decreased to approximately 17% in 2018. Housing as well as clothing and footwear categories were at one-tenth in 1968, while in 2018, housing showed rapid growth almost double (19%). Leisure recorded nearly 22%, making it the largest expenditure category in 2018, which was at 9% in 1968.

Amount spent on household goods was at around 8% in both years. Regarding personal goods which was at 8% in 1968, after 50 years it became the lowest category and reached under 5%. The expenditure on fuel and power dropped slightly from around 6% in 1968 to 4%, which became the lowest category in 2018. There was a noticeable growth in the figures of transport and it reached 14% in 2018.

Overall, food and leisure were the highest categories in 1968 as well as 2018 respectively. Families the spent same money on household goods in both years. In 2018, clothing and footwear as well as personal goods decreased considerably.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.5

You have successfully identified the main features of the data and provided relevant comparisons between the two years. You covered all categories and highlighted the most significant trends, such as the decline in food expenditure and the rise in leisure spending. The overview is clear and effectively summarises the key shifts. To reach a higher band, ensure that all data points are described with complete accuracy; for instance, stating that housing 'almost doubled' is a good analytical observation, but ensure your comparisons are consistently precise. Overall, you have fulfilled the requirements of the task well.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.5

The response is logically organised, with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a concluding overview. You use a range of cohesive devices such as 'In 1968', 'while in 2018', and 'Regarding', which helps the reader follow the progression of ideas. Paragraphing is used appropriately to group related information. To improve, ensure that transitions between sentences are slightly more varied to avoid a mechanical feel. For example, the transition between the discussion of household goods and personal goods could be smoother. Overall, the information is presented in a coherent and easy-to-follow manner.

Lexical Resource — Band 7.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'proportion', 'expenditure', 'recorded', and 'considerably'. You successfully avoid repetitive phrasing by using synonyms for 'spending'. There are some minor issues with word choice, such as 'figures of transport' (which is slightly unnatural) and 'the spent same money' (which contains a grammatical error). To achieve a higher score, try to incorporate more sophisticated collocations related to data trends, such as 'a significant shift in spending patterns' or 'a marginal decrease'. Your current vocabulary is sufficient to convey your meaning clearly.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, which is appropriate for this task. While there are some grammatical slips, such as 'Families the spent same money' and 'food and leisure were the highest categories in 1968 as well as 2018 respectively' (which is slightly confusing as they were not the highest in both years), these errors do not impede communication. Your control over punctuation and sentence construction is generally good. To improve, focus on ensuring subject-verb agreement and correct word order in complex sentences to reduce the frequency of minor errors.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.