Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-17

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 6.5)

The bar chart illustrates how families in one country spent their weekly income in 1968 and 2018.

Overall, spendings on leisure and housing increased significantly, while spending on food declined considerably. In addition, the proportion of weekly spent on household goods remained relatively stable throughout the period.

Families spent the largest proportion of their weekly income on food, at 35% in 1968, but this figure fell to approximately 17% in 2018. In contrast, housing, transport, and leisure followed the opposite trend. In 1968, families spent approximately 9% of their weekly income on leisure, and this figure rose to around 22% by 2018. Similarly, spending on housing rose from around 10% in 1968 to about 19% by 2018. Spending on transport also increased, rising from approximately 8% in 1968 to 14% in 2018.

However, the percentage of weekly income spent on purchasing household goods remained relatively stable, accounting for approximately 7%. Furthermore, the proportion of income spent on fuel and power fell slightly from around 7% in 1968 to around 4% by 2018. Same is the case with clothing, footware and personal goods.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response identifies the main pattern accurately: food spending fell markedly, while leisure and housing rose, and household goods changed little. It also supports these points with relevant figures, including food at 35% and 17%, leisure at 9% and 22%, and housing at 10% and 19%. This gives the report a clear overview and covers several important comparisons. However, some features are less fully reported: clothing and personal goods are grouped together in “Same is the case” without figures or an explicit description of their declines, and household goods is given as approximately 7% rather than the chart’s roughly 8% in both years. More precise coverage of these smaller categories would make the summary more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response is arranged in a sensible sequence: an introduction and overview are followed by the major increases and decreases, then the remaining categories. Linking expressions such as “In contrast,” “Similarly,” and “Furthermore” help readers follow the comparisons, and the paragraphing is appropriate. Some cohesion is less effective where the final sentence, “Same is the case with clothing, footware and personal goods,” is vague: it does not specify which trend applies or clearly connect the categories to the preceding sentence. The repeated use of “spending” and “this figure” also makes parts of the report somewhat mechanical. Use clearer references and make the final comparison a complete, explicit statement to improve progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

There is an adequate range of task-appropriate vocabulary, including “proportion,” “declined considerably,” “remained relatively stable,” and “accounting for.” These choices communicate the main trends clearly, and the writer varies some descriptions of change with “rose,” “fell,” and “increased.” However, there are several word-form or collocation issues: “spendings” is not the natural plural form here, and “the proportion of weekly spent” is awkward. “Footware” is also misspelled; the correct spelling is “footwear.” The final phrase “Same is the case” is imprecise in this context. More accurate collocations and a wider range of precise trend language would strengthen the report.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

The response uses a mix of simple and more complex sentence forms, and most sentences communicate the comparisons successfully. For example, the contrast in “Families spent the largest proportion … but this figure fell” is clearly structured, while the participial phrase “rising from approximately 8% … to 14%” is handled effectively. Some grammatical errors remain. “The proportion of weekly spent on household goods” is missing a grammatical construction, and “Same is the case with…” lacks a determiner and is not formed as a complete, natural sentence. The opening overview also has an awkward noun phrase in “spendings on leisure and housing.” Review sentence completeness and the grammatical patterns used with “proportion” and “spending”; this would improve accuracy while preserving the range already attempted.

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