Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-03

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 compares the weekly expenditure of families in one specific country in 1968 versus in 2018.

Overall, the main expense of families in 1968 was food, while in 2018 the main expense for families became leisure spending. Other than that housing , transport and house hold goods remained some of the main expenses.

Families in both years spent most of their budget on Food, Housing, Transport and Leisure. However the cost spent on food decreased from 1968 to 2018 by about 17%. While the cost of transport, housing and leisure spending increased in 2018 as compared to 1968 with each decreasing by about 10%.

Minor weekly expenses of families during these years were Fuel, clothing, household goods, and personal goods costs. Among these the money spent on household goods remained the same, while the amount spent on fuel, clothing and personal goods decreased from 1968 to 2018 with families on average spending 3-5% less than what they spent in 1968.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response provides a clear overview of the main trends, identifying the shift from food to leisure as the primary expense. However, the analysis contains significant factual inaccuracies. For instance, you state that the cost of transport, housing, and leisure increased while 'each decreasing by about 10%,' which is contradictory and confusing. Furthermore, the claim that household goods spending 'remained the same' is not supported by the data, which shows a clear decline. While you cover the main features, the lack of precision in reporting the data points limits the effectiveness of the response.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized into an introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs. You use some cohesive devices such as 'Overall,' 'However,' and 'While,' which help guide the reader. However, the progression of ideas is occasionally hindered by the inaccurate data reporting mentioned in the task achievement section. Paragraphing is used appropriately, and there is a clear attempt to group information by category (major vs. minor expenses), which provides a coherent structure to the report.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing you to describe trends such as 'expenditure,' 'decreased,' and 'remained the same.' However, the range is somewhat limited and repetitive. There are minor issues with word choice and capitalization, such as the unnecessary capitalization of 'Food,' 'Housing,' and 'Transport.' To reach a higher band, you should aim to use more varied synonyms for 'spending' and 'costs' and incorporate more precise collocations to describe the magnitude of changes in the data.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are several grammatical slips, such as the punctuation error in 'housing , transport' and the awkward phrasing in the sentence regarding the 10% decrease. Some sentences are slightly disjointed. While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. Focusing on consistent subject-verb agreement and refining the use of comparative structures would improve your accuracy.

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

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