Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-14

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 the comparison of weekly spending made by families for various daily essentials in the year 1986 and 2018.

Overall, food recorded the highest percentage in weekly income expenditure, whereas personal goods and fuel and power displayed the lowest. A noticeable feature was that expenditure spend on household goods were equal in both the years.

In the year 1968,food was represented as the highest form of expenditure at 35 %.Expenditure spend on housing as well as clothing and foot ware were at10% when compared to fuel and power was just above 6%.Despite of the fluctuations in other categories, house hold goods, personal goods and transport goods considerably stood at below 10% in average weekly spending. Leisure experienced one percentage higher than the near categories.

Disbursement for leisure recorded significantly highest at almost 25% in the year 2018 when compared to all other categories. In terms of food and housing in the year 2018 , the weekly spend by families represented above 15 and nearly 20 percentages respectively. Moreover, money spend on fuel and power along with personal goods were just under 5% while the cost for clothing and foot ware was slightly higher at 5%. Roughly 15 % were spend on transport.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify several relevant features, including the sharp fall in food spending, the rise in housing and leisure, and unchanged household-goods spending. However, the overview is not fully accurate: food was the largest category in 1968, but leisure—not food—was largest in 2018; fuel and personal goods were the lowest in 2018. Some figures are also imprecise, such as leisure at “almost 25%” rather than about 22%, and the opening gives 1986 instead of 1968. The comparison of the two years is uneven, with many 1968 figures described but fewer direct comparisons. A more precise overview and accurate, paired comparisons of the main changes would make the report more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall shape: an introduction, an overview, and separate paragraphs for the two years. This makes the information reasonably easy to follow, and phrases such as “In the year 1968” and “In terms of” help signal progression. However, the organisation is mainly year-by-year rather than comparative, so the reader must infer several changes between the dates. Some linking is awkward or unclear, as in “Despite of the fluctuations in other categories,” and “Leisure experienced one percentage higher than the near categories” does not clearly identify the comparison. Grouping the largest rises and falls together, and using direct links such as “by contrast” or “while,” would create smoother progression and clearer cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use a reasonably varied range of vocabulary for describing data, including “recorded,” “represented,” “significantly,” and “roughly.” These attempts to avoid repetition are appropriate, and the main categories remain understandable. However, some choices are unnatural or imprecise for chart reporting: “expenditure spend,” “disbursement for leisure,” and “near categories” do not express the intended meanings naturally. There are also spelling and form issues in “foot ware” and “house hold,” while “daily essentials” is not an exact description of all the categories. Prefer standard collocations such as “spending on leisure” and “accounted for,” and use the chart’s category labels consistently to improve precision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and more complex sentences, including a contrast with “whereas” and a longer sentence beginning “Despite of the fluctuations.” Most of the intended meaning can be understood, but some grammatical errors recur. For example, “expenditure spend on household goods were equal” has an agreement problem, and “Despite of” is not a correct construction; use “Despite” or “In spite of.” The sentence about leisure being “one percentage higher” is also structurally unclear. Punctuation and spacing are inconsistent, particularly around commas and percentages. Check subject–verb agreement, use complete and clearly structured comparisons, and proofread sentence boundaries and punctuation.

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