Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

The bar chart provides data related to families who spent their weekly income in 1968 and 2018.

Overall, the expenditure of families on leisure, transport, and housing increased after five decades. In other cases, the proportion of income spent is lower than before half a century, with one exception of a household with the same proportion after fifty years.

In 1968, the highest proportion of weekly income was spent on food, with 35%, followed by housing and clothing, each with a 20% share. Additionally, the share of leisure accounted for 9% as compared to transport, personal goods, and household goods with 8% for each category. Fuel and power had the lowest proportion, around 6%.

In 2018, there was a significant decrease in spending on food from 35% in 1968 to around 16% after five decades. Leisure accounted for around 22%, as compared to housing and transport with around 20% and around 15%, respectively. Personal goods and fuel had a joint share of around 5% each. Clothing had a share of 5%, while the household goods share remained unchanged after fifty years with around 8%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response covers all key features of the chart, including the major trends and specific data points for both 1968 and 2018. You successfully identified the significant shift in food expenditure and the stability of household goods. However, the overview could be more precise; stating that expenditure on leisure, transport, and housing increased is accurate, but the summary of other categories is slightly vague. To reach a higher band, ensure that the overview captures the most striking differences or similarities more clearly. Overall, the response is well-structured and addresses the prompt effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs focusing on the two distinct years. The progression of ideas is smooth, and you use cohesive devices such as 'In 1968', 'In 2018', and 'as compared to' to link information effectively. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the time periods. To improve, you could vary your cohesive devices further to avoid repetitive sentence structures, but the current level of organization is clear and easy to follow throughout the response.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'expenditure', 'proportion', and 'accounted for' correctly. There are some minor inaccuracies, such as 'lower than before half a century', which is slightly awkward phrasing. While you use some less common vocabulary, the range is somewhat limited. To achieve a higher band, try to incorporate more precise collocations and a wider variety of synonyms for 'increase' or 'decrease' (e.g., 'surged', 'plummeted', 'remained stable') to show greater flexibility.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

The response uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. Most sentences are clear and error-free, which ensures that communication is never impeded. There are occasional minor errors, such as 'data related to families who spent their weekly income' (which is slightly imprecise) and 'with one exception of a household' (which should be 'a category'). You have good control over basic grammar, but to reach a higher band, you should aim to include a wider variety of complex grammatical structures with greater consistency and fewer minor slips.

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

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