Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-14

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 illustrates the proportions of weekly household income allocated to eight different expenditure categories in a single country between 1968 and 2018.

Overall, spending habits underwent a noticeable shift over the 50-year period. While essential items like food dominated household budgets in 1968, housing, leisure, and transport accounted for the largest shares of family expenditure by 2018.

In 1968, food was by far the single largest expense, taking up 35% of weekly income, while other expenditures took less than 10% each. Fuel and power contributed to the least amount of expenses taking just over 5% of weekly income.

By 2018, the spending habits changed significantly, food expenses dropped drastically, reducing to 17%, while the amount spent on leisure took the lead with 22% of weekly income., followed by housing with 18%, and transport with 14% of income. the rest of the expenditures took less than 10% of income, and apart from household goods expenses, they took only less than 5% of weekly income.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response covers all parts of the task well, providing a clear overview of the main features and making appropriate comparisons between 1968 and 2018. The introduction accurately paraphrases the prompt, and the student successfully highlights key data points, such as food being the highest expense in 1968 at 35% compared to its drop to 17% in 2018, and leisure taking the lead at 22%. The selection of data is well-judged and supports the comparison effectively. While a few minor details could be expanded further, the overall fulfillment of the task easily meets the requirements for a Band 7.0 by addressing all parts with a clear overview and relevant supported data points.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The response shows a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. It is divided into logical paragraphs, starting with an introduction and an overall summary, followed by body paragraphs detailing the years 1968 and 2018 respectively. Cohesive devices are used reasonably well, such as 'Overall', 'While', and 'By 2018'. However, there is a minor mechanical issue with punctuation in the final paragraph, specifically a comma splice and a lower-case start in 'the rest of the expenditures...'. Despite these minor flaws, the paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, maintaining clear logical progression. This places the response comfortably at a Band 7.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The student demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary for the task, allowing for flexibility and precision. Phrases such as 'proportions of weekly household income allocated', 'expenditure categories', and 'dominated household budgets' show a good command of academic vocabulary. Less common items are attempted with some awareness of style and collocation. However, there are minor awkward expressions, such as 'Fuel and power contributed to the least amount of expenses taking just over 5%', where 'contributed to' is not entirely natural. Spelling and word choice errors are rare and do not impede communication, matching the criteria for a Band 7.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

The response uses a variety of complex sentence structures, such as concessive clauses ('While essential items like food dominated...') and participial phrases ('taking up 35% of weekly income'). There are frequent error-free sentences, and the student demonstrates good control of grammar overall. However, there is a punctuation error and run-on structure in the final paragraph ('...with 14% of income., followed by...'), and a lower-case letter starting a new sentence ('the rest of the expenditures...'). These minor errors persist, but the majority of sentences are accurate and complex structures are handled well, justifying a Band 7.0.

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

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