Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-16

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 families' expenses as a percentage of their weekly revenue in a country in the years 1068 and 2018.

Overall, the food bracket was high in the first year. The sections on fuel and power and personal goods were low in the second year.

In 1968, families spent 35% of their weekly income that was higher than others. On housing, and clothing and footware their expenses were 10%. Although, the ratio of household goods, personal goods, transport, and leisure hovered at 8%. The least one, Fuel and power was 6 percent.

While in 2018, prominently their expenses were on leisure at 22%. The food and housing were rouphly between 17% to 19%. Families expenditures on transportation were 14%. Conversly, the proportions of fuel and power, clothing and footware, and personal goods were 4 to 5 percent. Prominently, the proportion of household goods was the same as 8% in both years

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify several key features accurately: food was the largest category in 1968 at 35%, leisure led in 2018 at 22%, and household goods remained at 8%. You also report most of the other figures correctly. However, the overview is incomplete: it notes low fuel and personal-goods spending in 2018 but does not clearly summarise the broader shift from food towards leisure, housing and transport. Some details are unclear or inaccurate, such as saying four categories “hovered at 8%” in 1968, when leisure was 9%, and describing food and housing in 2018 as “between 17% to 19%” rather than giving their separate values. A sharper overview and more precise comparisons would make the response more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall shape, moving from an introduction and overview to separate descriptions of 1968 and 2018. This makes the main comparisons reasonably easy to follow. However, some linking is mechanical or awkward: “Although” begins a sentence without a matching main clause, while “While in 2018” creates an incomplete contrastive opening. The overview also does not fully prepare the reader for the main changes discussed later. Grouping categories by whether their shares rose, fell or stayed stable would create a clearer progression, and using fewer repeated sentence openings such as “The…” and “Families…” would improve flow. Overall, the organisation is coherent, though cohesion is not consistently controlled.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for describing a chart, including “percentage,” “proportion,” “expenses” and “hovered,” and the meaning is generally clear. However, several choices are inaccurate or unnatural for this task. “Weekly revenue” refers more naturally to money earned by a business, rather than family income, and “food bracket” and “sections” are imprecise labels for spending categories. There are also spelling errors in “footware,” “rouphly” and “Conversly,” and “transportation” is less consistent with the chart label than “transport.” These slips limit precision and control, although they do not prevent the reader from understanding the comparisons. Aim for accurate chart terminology and check spelling carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and more complex forms, and most of the figures can be understood. Some sentence structures and punctuation are not well controlled. For example, “In 1968, families spent 35% of their weekly income that was higher than others” joins two ideas with an unclear relative clause; “Although, the ratio…” uses a subordinating conjunction as though it were a complete sentence; and “While in 2018…” is also an incomplete opening. The phrase “between 17% to 19%” has an incorrect grammatical pattern; use “between 17% and 19%” or state each figure separately. More consistently complete sentences and accurate clause links would improve grammatical control while retaining your attempts at complex structures.

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