Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-26

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 6.0)

The graph shows how households in a particular country used their weekly income between the period of 1968 and 2018.

In the year 1968 the families spent most of their income on food which took 35% from their weekly money.The housing ,clothing and footware expenses were equal because they both were 10%.Household goods,personal goods and transport all amounted the same (10% each).The leisure expenditure was a little bit higher.The households spent the least amount on fuel and power which was around 6% of their weekly income.

Moving forward,in 2018 the highest expense was on leisure which resulted in about 22,5% of their weekly income.Housing was 19%,fuel and power around 4%,household goods approximately 8%,clothing and footware 5%,personal goods 4% and transport which was 14% respectively.

There was a significant drop of 50% in food expenses and a huge increase in leisure ,housing ,clothing and footware from the year 1968 to 2018.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

You have successfully identified the main features of the chart and provided a clear comparison between 1968 and 2018. You covered all categories mentioned in the prompt. However, your analysis contains some factual inaccuracies regarding the data. For instance, you stated there was a 'significant drop of 50% in food expenses,' but the chart shows a drop from 35% to 17%, which is not a 50% reduction of the total value. Additionally, your claim of a 'huge increase' in clothing and footwear is incorrect, as the data shows a decrease from 10% to 5%. More careful data interpretation is required for a higher band.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response is logically organized into paragraphs, with an introduction, two body paragraphs focusing on the two years, and a concluding summary. You use some cohesive devices like 'Moving forward' and 'In the year 1968' to guide the reader. However, the flow is somewhat mechanical, and the transition between sentences could be smoother. The referencing is generally clear, but the paragraphing could be more balanced to ensure a better progression of ideas throughout the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, such as 'expenditure,' 'amounted,' and 'significant.' However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'took 35% from their weekly money' and 'amounted the same.' The use of 'respectively' at the end of the second paragraph is also misused, as it does not follow a list of corresponding items. To improve, focus on using more precise academic collocations and ensuring that terms like 'respectively' are used only when comparing two sets of data.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are several punctuation errors, such as missing spaces after commas (e.g., 'forward,in') and inconsistent spacing around periods. There are also minor grammatical slips, such as 'clothing and footware' (spelling: footwear) and 'amounted the same' (should be 'amounted to the same'). While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. Focus on proofreading for punctuation and basic subject-verb agreement.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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