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 compares the weekly expenditure of families in a country on different categories in 1968 and 2018 respectively. Overall, the largest proportion of expenditure in 1968 was on food, which was for 35%, whereas in 2018, the highest proportion of spending was on leisure.

In 1968, families spent the highest percentage of their income on food which is 35%. Housing and, Clothing and footware were the second largest category, with 10% of weekly income. Household goods, personal goods and transport were all between 7% and 8%. Fuel and power were slightly lower at 6%, while leisure also had the spending of 9%.

In 2018, leisure became the biggest area of spending at 23%. Housing also increased to 19% in 2018. Transport spending rise to 14%. On the other hand, spending on food decreased significantly, from 35% to 16%. The figures for fuel and power, clothing and footwear, and personal goods also decreased, while spending on household goods remained the same.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response covers all key features of the chart, including the main trends and specific comparisons between 1968 and 2018. You successfully identified the shift in the highest expenditure category from food to leisure. However, the analysis is somewhat descriptive and lacks a more analytical approach to the data. For example, while you mention the decrease in food spending, you could have grouped categories more effectively to highlight the overall shift in lifestyle. The overview is clear, but the report would benefit from a more cohesive synthesis of the data rather than listing figures category by category.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized into an introduction, a body paragraph for 1968, and a body paragraph for 2018. This structure makes the information easy to follow. You use some cohesive devices such as 'whereas', 'on the other hand', and 'in contrast', which help the flow. However, the transition between sentences is occasionally mechanical. To reach a higher band, ensure that your paragraphs are balanced in length and that you use a wider variety of linking words to connect ideas more fluidly rather than relying on simple chronological sequencing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'expenditure', 'proportion', and 'significantly'. There are some minor errors in word choice and spelling, such as 'footware' (footwear) and 'had the spending of' (which is slightly unnatural). To improve, try to incorporate more precise collocations related to data trends, such as 'experienced a downward trend' or 'accounted for a substantial share'. The current vocabulary is sufficient to convey meaning clearly but lacks the sophistication and flexibility required for higher bands.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors that slightly affect the precision of your writing, such as 'which is 35%' (should be 'which was 35%' to maintain tense consistency) and 'Transport spending rise to 14%' (should be 'rose'). While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. Focus on maintaining consistent past tense when describing historical data and ensure subject-verb agreement is accurate throughout the report.

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