Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-13

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 graph illustrates informatiom regarding average weekly spending by family in single nation during 1998 and 2018.

Overall, it is clear that spending on somethings has risen, whereas other faced decline. This shows change in lifestyle of people over the timeperiod.

In 1968, families spent more than one-third of their budget on the food around 35%. Housing was another major neccessity where 10% of earning is spent, while clothing and footware hold equal importance with same figures. Similarly, both personal and household goods takeup equal percantage of money just above 7.5% and transport also recorded same spending on weekly basis. people used to spent only around 9% of their saving on leisure in the past. Fuel and power was lowest spending category on graph with roughly 6%.

In 2018, there are many dramatic changes in chart. Firstly, people started saving money on food as it declined reaching around 16%. Other categories which faced massive decrease are clothing and footware as well as personal goods as they fall to 5% and 4% respectively. While fuel and power shows slightly downward trend recording 4%. Secondly, families started spending more on enjoyment as it rose to roughly 22%. Housing remains major spending category with upward trend reaching around 19%. While transport show significant increase in percentage reaching 14%. Moreover, Household goods maintained same percantage over the timeperiod.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The response addresses the chart and gives a clear overview of the broad shift: food spending fell, while leisure and housing rose. It also reports the main figures accurately, including food at about 35% and 17%, leisure at 9% and 22%, and housing at 10% and 19%. The comparisons for clothing, personal goods, fuel and power, transport, and household goods are also grounded in the data. This selection and support make the account effective. To strengthen it further, make the overview more specific by identifying the largest category in each year: food in 1968 and leisure in 2018. Avoid unsupported interpretation such as “change in lifestyle”; the chart shows spending patterns, not their causes or meaning.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate paragraphs for 1968 and 2018. The chronological grouping makes the comparisons easy to follow, and signposts such as “Overall,” “Firstly,” and “Moreover” help guide the reader. This is a coherent arrangement, though some linking is mechanical or awkward. For example, “While transport show significant increase” is left as a fragment after the preceding sentence, and repeated “while” constructions interrupt the flow. The overview also remains quite general before the detailed paragraphs begin. For a stronger progression, connect related changes in complete sentences and group the largest rises and falls together rather than listing categories one by one.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The response uses enough topic vocabulary to describe the chart, including “declined,” “maintained,” “upward trend,” and “recording.” However, noticeable spelling and word-choice problems reduce precision: “informatiom,” “neccessity,” “percantage,” and “timeperiod” are misspelled, while “saving money on food” does not accurately describe a fall in the share of weekly income spent on food. Some phrases are also unnatural, such as “spending on somethings” and “hold equal importance.” These errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the main comparisons, but they make the language less controlled. Use standard chart-reporting collocations and check spelling carefully, especially for repeated key terms such as “percentage.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

There is an attempt to use a mix of simple and complex sentences, including clauses introduced by “whereas,” “while,” and “as.” However, errors occur across sentence patterns and sometimes make the writing less smooth. Examples include “Housing was another major necessity where 10% of earning is spent,” which shifts tense and has an unclear relative clause, and “transport show significant increase,” where subject–verb agreement and article use are missing. “People used to spent” also has an incorrect verb form, and the sentence beginning “While transport…” is incomplete. Use past tense consistently for the 1968 data, check singular/plural agreement, and ensure each sentence has a complete main clause.

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