Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-11

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 percentage of average weekly income expenditure by families in 1968 and 2018 in a country. Overall, a major chunk of income was spent on food in 1968 in comparison to 2018. Leisure and housing expenses increased significantly in 2018.

In 1968, 35 percent of weekly income was spent on food which reduced to 17 percent in 2018.Clothing and footwear took 10 percent of the income, same as housing in 1968. Personal goods and transport made up about 8 percent of income each.

In 2018, the income percentage spent on leisure increased significantly from 8 percent in 1968 to almost 24 percent in 2018, showing a three-fold increase. Housing came out to be another major expense at almost 18-19 percent of weekly income in 2018 from previous 10 percent in 1968. Transport expenses also increased slightly. there was no change in income spent on household goods which remained stable at 8 percent.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You provide a relevant overview, identifying the sharp fall in food spending and the rise in leisure and housing, and support these points with several figures. Most reported values match the chart: food falls from 35% to 17%, housing rises from 10% to around 19%, and household goods remain at 8%. The comparison of leisure is slightly inaccurate: it was 9% in 1968, not 8%, and about 22% in 2018 rather than almost 24%. Some categories receive limited or no detail, particularly fuel and power, personal goods, and clothing, while transport is only described as increasing slightly. To strengthen the response, report the main changes across more categories and ensure the overview captures the full pattern, including the decline in several smaller spending areas.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction and overview are followed by details about 1968 and then 2018. This makes the main comparisons easy to follow, and phrases such as “which reduced to” and “from previous 10 percent” help connect the years. However, the grouping is not fully consistent: the 1968 paragraph includes only selected categories, while the 2018 paragraph returns to some of them and leaves others unaddressed. The transition into “there was no change” is also weakened by starting a new sentence with a lowercase letter. For a more controlled progression, group related increases and decreases together, and use clear transitions to signal each comparison.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of task-related vocabulary, including “percentage,” “increased significantly,” “three-fold increase,” and “remained stable.” These expressions communicate the main trends, though some choices are imprecise or less natural for describing chart data. “A major chunk of income” is informal, and “housing came out to be another major expense” is awkward. “Income percentage spent on leisure” is also an unnatural phrase. There is some repetition of “income” and “spent,” and the response could use more precise terms for proportions and changes. Choose formal collocations such as “accounted for” or “the share allocated to,” and vary the language used to describe rises and falls.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and more developed sentence forms, including the overview sentence contrasting 1968 with 2018 and the clause “which reduced to 17 percent.” Most of the meaning remains clear, but some grammatical and punctuation errors are present. There is no space after the full stop in “2018.Clothing,” and “there was no change” begins with a lowercase letter after a full stop. The phrase “35 percent of weekly income was spent on food which reduced” also attaches the relative clause unclearly: it sounds as though the food, rather than the proportion, reduced. Use a clearer structure, such as “The proportion spent on food fell from 35% to 17%.” More consistent sentence boundaries and carefully attached clauses would improve accuracy.

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.