Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-09

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 the percentages of weekly household income spent on eight different categories in a country in 1968 and 2018. Overall, spending patterns changed considerably over the period. Food was the main household expense at the begining, whereas leisure became the most significant spending category by the end, Spending on housing and transport increased, while expenditure on several other categories declined. In 1968, food represented the dramatic share of household spending, at approximately 35% of weekilt income. However, the figure fell to around 17% in 2018. Spending on clothing and footware aslo declined, from 10% to about 5%. Similarly, the proportion spent on fuel and power decreased from roughly 6% to 4%, While personal goods fell from approximetly 8% to 4%.

By contrast, spending on housing doubled from 10% in 1968 to approximetly 20% in 2018. Transport expenditure aslo rose, increasing from 8% to 14%. The most noticeabl

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response identifies the main shift accurately: food falls from about 35% to 17%, while leisure becomes the leading category in 2018, and it reports the increases in housing and transport alongside several declines. These comparisons are relevant and generally well supported by figures. However, the account is incomplete: the final sentence stops at “The most noticeabl…”, so the discussion of the remaining categories—especially leisure’s rise from 9% to 22% and household goods staying at 8%—is not completed. The overview is clear, but the body does not fully develop all the key features. To strengthen the response, finish the comparison and ensure the most important unchanged and rising categories are reported.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure, moving from an introduction and overview to details about declining categories and then rising expenditure. Linking phrases such as “Overall,” “However,” “Similarly,” and “By contrast” help show the relationships between figures. This gives the information a coherent progression. However, the final paragraph ends abruptly at “The most noticeabl…”, leaving the last point unfinished and weakening the flow. The overview sentence also joins several trends in a long sequence, and the shift from the overview to the detailed comparisons could be more deliberate. Complete the final point and group the figures into clearly balanced comparisons to make cohesion more consistently smooth.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

There is an adequate range of task-related vocabulary, including “represented,” “proportion,” “expenditure,” “declined,” and “increased.” These choices help avoid excessive repetition of “spending.” However, some word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural: “the dramatic share” would be better expressed as “the largest share,” and “most significant spending category” is less precise than “largest spending category.” Several spelling errors—“begining,” “weekilt,” “footware,” “aslo,” and “approximetly”—also reduce accuracy. The meaning remains understandable, but careful proofreading and more natural collocations would improve control. Continue using varied reporting verbs, while checking spelling and choosing precise terms for proportions and rankings.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

The response uses a mix of sentence forms, including complex comparisons with “whereas,” “while,” and “from…to…”. Most sentences communicate the intended trends clearly, and the past-tense reporting is generally controlled. Some punctuation and sentence-boundary errors remain: the overview has a comma after “end” where a full stop is needed, and “While personal goods fell…” begins with an unnecessary capital after a comma. The final sentence is also incomplete, ending with “The most noticeabl…”. These issues do not generally prevent understanding, but they interrupt accuracy and flow. Review punctuation around linked clauses and ensure every sentence is complete; this would make the existing range of structures more reliable.

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