Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-15

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 chart illustrates the proportion of weekly income allocated to eight different categories households in a specific country.

Overall,the highest proportion is responsible for food in 1968 whereas leisure took higest spot in 2018.Additionally other households stayed constant and negligible.

In the year of 1968,highest share took by food at about 35% whereas housing,clothing and footware at the same level around 10%.In addittion,household goods,transport,leisure,personal goods closely followed each other at around 9%.While fuel and power took the lowest spot account for around 6%.

Turning to 2018,most popular spending was in leisure approximately at 23% whereas fuel and power and personal goods were the less popular accounted for around 4% both.However housing and food followed closley at around 18% and 16%.Other household activities like household goods remain the same in following years at about 8% and transport increased and standing at around 14%.The household activities flactuated over the following years.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You identify the main contrast accurately: food was the largest category in 1968, while leisure led in 2018. You also report several relevant figures, including food at about 35% and leisure at roughly 23%, and note the rise in transport and the stable household-goods share. This covers the task and gives a useful overview. However, some comparisons are imprecise: in 1968, household goods, personal goods and transport were about 8%, while leisure was about 9%, rather than all being around 9%. The claim that “other households stayed constant and negligible” is unclear and does not accurately describe the categories. The final statement that spending “fluctuated” is also too general. More precise grouping and a clearer overview would strengthen the response further.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate paragraphs for the two years. Phrases such as “Turning to 2018” help signal the shift between periods, and the reader can generally follow the comparisons. Some linking is mechanical or unclear, however. For example, “Additionally other households stayed constant and negligible” does not clearly refer to a chart category, while “However housing and food followed closely” gives an awkward relationship between the figures. The final sentence repeats a broad idea rather than adding a clear comparison. Use more precise references to categories and organise each year’s figures into meaningful groups, such as increases, decreases and unchanged spending, to make progression smoother.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant chart vocabulary, including “proportion,” “allocated,” “share,” “accounted for” and “increased,” so the meaning is usually clear. There is some attempt to vary wording, but several choices are inaccurate or unnatural, which limits precision: “highest proportion is responsible for food” and “most popular spending” do not describe expenditure naturally, and “other households” confuses households with spending categories. Spelling errors such as “higest,” “addittion,” “closley” and “flactuated” are also noticeable. Aim for accurate collocations and consistent spelling rather than using varied expressions that do not fit the context. Terms such as “accounted for,” “percentage of income” and “category” are useful, precise options.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mixture of simple statements and longer comparisons, including clauses beginning with “whereas” and “while.” The overall meaning is generally recoverable, but some sentence structures are incomplete or awkward. For example, “highest share took by food” is missing a suitable verb construction, and “While fuel and power took the lowest spot…” is a dependent clause presented as a sentence. There are also errors in articles, agreement and punctuation, such as “the less popular accounted for around 4%” and the missing spaces after commas and full stops. These issues sometimes make relationships between figures less clear. Practise complete comparative sentences, for example, “Food accounted for the largest share in 1968, at 35%, whereas…,” and check sentence boundaries and articles.

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