Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

The bar chart compares how households in a country spent their weekly income in percentage from 1968 to 2018.

Overall, in the early years, food had the highest allocated proportion of families in a week. However, it was replaced by leisure in the latter years. Meanwhile, other expenditures accumulated for housing, fuel and power, clothing and footware, household goods, personal goods and transport had increased and decreased throughout the fifty-year period.

In 1969, food was the most spent stood at 35%, however, in 2018, leisure had the highest proportion. Housing rose from 10% in 1968 to 19% in 2018. Moreover, fuel and power and personal goods declined from 7% to 4% and 8% to 4% respectively.

Furthermore, household goods had consistent rate accounted to 7%. On the other hand, transport rose from 7% in 1968 to 14% in 2018. Clothing and footware fell from 10% in 1968 to 4% in 2018.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response covers the main features of the chart, identifying the shift from food to leisure as the primary expenditure. It successfully highlights key trends, such as the rise in housing and transport costs and the decline in clothing and fuel. However, the overview is slightly underdeveloped; while it mentions the shift in spending, it could have been more precise by grouping categories that showed similar trends (e.g., those that increased versus those that decreased). The data is generally accurate, although there is a minor error in the text where '1969' is written instead of '1968'. Overall, the response provides a clear summary of the data provided.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The response is logically organized, with a clear introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs that group information by category. Cohesive devices such as 'meanwhile', 'moreover', 'furthermore', and 'on the other hand' are used to link ideas. However, some of the transitions feel slightly mechanical, and the paragraphing could be more balanced. The referencing is generally clear, though the flow between the second and third body paragraphs could be smoother to better connect the contrasting trends in spending.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, with some attempts at using specific terminology like 'allocated proportion' and 'expenditures'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'food was the most spent' (should be 'the largest expenditure') and 'household goods had consistent rate accounted to 7%' (should be 'remained stable at 7%'). While the range is sufficient to convey the meaning, it lacks the precision and flexibility required for a higher band score. Spelling is generally accurate, but the phrasing is occasionally awkward.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The response uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are some grammatical errors, such as 'accumulated for' (which is misused here) and 'food was the most spent'. Additionally, there is a minor error in the year reference ('1969' instead of '1968'). While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. The use of comparative structures like 'rose from... to...' is handled well, but the overall control of complex sentence forms is inconsistent.

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

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