Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-05

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 shows the information on families expenditure in a country between the year 1968 and 2018.

Overall, the amount spent on food dramatically declined whereas the figure for housing and leisure rose sharply to become the highest expenses by 2018. Meanwhile, household's figure remained stable throughout the year.

Looking at the chart, the amount spent on food was the highest in the year 1968 with a figure of 35 and 18 in 2018 and this was followed by Housing with a figure of 10 ans 19 respectively. In comparison, the amount spent on food reduced drastically in the year 2018, from 35 to 18 whereas, the amount spent on housing increased to 19 in that same year.

The total amount spent on leisure also rose from 9 in 1968 to 23 in 2018, making it the highest expensive unit in the year 2018, even though it was almost the same figiure with housing in the year 1968. While Household expenses remained stable throughout the year.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response covers the main features of the chart and makes relevant comparisons between 1968 and 2018. You successfully identified the key trends, such as the decline in food expenditure and the rise in leisure and housing costs. However, the report is slightly hampered by inaccuracies in data presentation. For instance, stating '35 and 18 in 2018' is confusing, and the phrasing 'highest expensive unit' is awkward. To improve, ensure that data points are clearly linked to their respective years and categories to avoid ambiguity. The overview is clear, but the supporting details need more precise articulation to fully meet the requirements of a higher band.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, with an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs. You use some cohesive devices like 'whereas', 'meanwhile', and 'in comparison' to link ideas. However, the flow is occasionally disrupted by mechanical phrasing and some repetitive sentence structures. The transition between the overview and the body paragraphs is functional, but the internal cohesion within the body paragraphs could be smoother. Referencing is generally clear, but the connection between the data points and the years could be more fluidly integrated to improve the overall logical progression of the report.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'dramatically declined', 'rose sharply', and 'remained stable'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'highest expensive unit' and 'household's figure'. These errors do not impede communication, but they do limit the precision of your report. To reach a higher band, focus on using more sophisticated collocations and ensuring that your word choices are contextually appropriate for describing statistical data. Avoid repeating the same structures when discussing figures.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are several grammatical errors, such as 'families expenditure' (should be 'family expenditure'), 'ans' (typo for 'and'), and 'same figiure' (spelling error). Additionally, there are issues with subject-verb agreement and article usage. While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the main points, they occur frequently enough to impact the overall fluency. Increasing your control over basic grammar and proofreading for minor slips would significantly improve your score.

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.