Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

The chart depicts the information of how family spent their earnings in on country over a period of 50 years from 1968 to 2018.

Overall, the most amount of their income was spent on food, and the least amount they invested is on fuel and power. However, they also contributed their money on various neccessities, such as goods and transport.

Firstly, the food dominated in 1968 by 35% of their income, however it was declined to nearly 20% in 2018, following by housing, nevertheless it was much less expensive in the early 70s, but went up to 20% by 2018. Another important factor was leisure, it was around 10% in beginning but drastically rose up by around 25% in 2018. Apart from that People overall, spent less amount on both household and personal goods throughout the timeline.

In summary, food was the highest thing that consumed their income followed by housing and other factors did not have significant difference in terms of overall spending.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify several important patterns, including the fall in food spending and the rises in housing and leisure, and your overview recognises food as the leading category in 1968. However, the overview is not fully accurate across both years: in 2018, leisure was the largest category, while fuel and power was the smallest in both years. Some comparisons are also imprecise: food fell to about 17%, not nearly 20%, and leisure rose from about 9% to 22%. The statement that other factors showed no significant difference overlooks the clear changes in transport and clothing. To strengthen the response, report the main extremes for each year and include the most notable increases and decreases more precisely.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, an overview, a paragraph of selected details and a concluding sentence. This gives the reader a coherent overall arrangement. However, progression within the detail paragraph is uneven: food, housing and leisure are discussed, then the response shifts to goods without explaining how these categories compare. Linking words such as “however,” “nevertheless” and “apart from that” sometimes create unclear or awkward relationships between ideas. The final “In summary” repeats the overview rather than adding a clear synthesis. Grouping the largest changes together and using more precise links between comparisons would make the organisation easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant vocabulary for describing data, including “dominated,” “declined,” “rose” and “contributed,” and the general meaning is usually clear. However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, such as “the most amount,” “invested is on fuel and power,” and “food was the highest thing that consumed their income.” There are also spelling errors, including “neccessities,” and “following by” is not the correct form for this comparison. These issues limit precision, especially when describing categories and proportions. Aim for standard chart language such as “accounted for,” “the largest share,” “fell to” and “was followed by,” and check spelling carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mixture of simple and more complex sentences, including clauses linked with “however” and “but,” and the main message can generally be understood. Some grammatical errors remain, particularly in sentence construction and verb forms. For example, “how family spent their earnings in on country” has problems with number, prepositions and article use, while “it was declined” uses an incorrect passive form; “it declined” would be appropriate. The sentence beginning “Another important factor was leisure, it was around 10%” joins two independent clauses with only a comma. Review articles, prepositions and clause boundaries, and use accurate past-tense forms consistently when reporting the figures.

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.