Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

The bar graph illustrates families' weekly income expenditure in a particular country in 1968 and 2018.

Overall, in 1968, families spent most of their weekly income in the necessary items like food, fuel and power, clothing and footware and personal goods, whereas in 2018, the figure for housing, transport and leisure accounted for most of the expenditure. Additionally, spending on food recorded the highest value of all time.

In the year 1968, 35% of the weekly income was spent on food, housing and clothing and footwear took 10% of the income, and money spent on fuel and power recorded around 6% of the income.

On the other hand, in 2018, the budget decreased to just over 15% for food , less than 5% for fuel and power, and around 4% for personal goods, while the expenditure of housing, transport and leisure surged at nearly 20%, less than 15% and more than 20% respectively. Other expenditure remained same in both years.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the two years and give a useful overview of the shift from food towards housing, transport and leisure. Several figures are also reported accurately, including food at 35% in 1968 and fuel and power at about 6%. However, the overview is not fully precise: food was the largest category in 1968, but not “of all time,” since leisure was higher in 2018. The claim that 1968 spending focused on “necessary items” is also unclear, and the statement that “other expenditure remained same” overlooks changes in clothing, fuel and personal goods. Include the key unchanged category—household goods—and compare the main rises and falls more explicitly to make the coverage more complete and accurate.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, an overview, and separate paragraphs for the two years. This gives the reader a coherent route through the comparison, and phrases such as “On the other hand” signal a change of year. The progression is not always smooth, however. The 1968 paragraph combines several figures in one long sentence, while the final sentence, “Other expenditure remained same in both years,” is vague and disconnected from the categories just discussed. The contrast marker also suggests a stronger opposition than the data require. Grouping the categories that rose, fell or stayed stable, and using clearer references to those categories, would make the cohesion more flexible and precise.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of task-related vocabulary, including “accounted for,” “recorded,” “expenditure” and “surged,” and the meaning is generally clear. There are some inaccurate or awkward choices that limit precision. “Weekly income expenditure” is an unnatural combination; “weekly spending” would be clearer. “Necessary items” is an imprecise label for the categories listed, and “the budget decreased” does not clearly identify food spending as the figure that fell. The spelling “footware” is incorrect, and “Other expenditure” is too broad when referring to specific chart categories. Aim for accurate category names and natural collocations, such as “the proportion spent on food fell” and “household-goods spending remained unchanged.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and more complex forms, including the overview clause beginning “whereas in 2018” and the contrastive sentence beginning “On the other hand.” Most sentences remain understandable, but some grammatical errors and punctuation issues are present. In “housing and clothing and footwear took 10%,” the plural subject does not match the single figure clearly; separate the categories and state each value. The phrase “remained same” needs an article (“remained the same”), and the long 1968 sentence would benefit from clearer punctuation or division into shorter sentences. These issues do not prevent understanding, but more consistent control of agreement, articles and sentence boundaries would strengthen accuracy.

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