Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-20

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 shows the percentage of families weekly expenditure on food, housing, energy, apperal, household items, personal iteams, transport and leisure in year 1968 and 2018 in a particular country.

Overall, a sharp decline can be seen in the food expense from 1968 to 2018, enegry, appreal and personal goods percentage has also declined between the years, where as housing, transport and leisure expenses propotion can be seen increasing. Household good expense percentage remains the same.

If we talk about declined expenditure, food expense that was consuming 35% of a household income in 1968 has declined to almost 18% in 2018 that almost half, similarly spending on clothing and footware and personal good has also reduced by half from 10% to 5% and around 8% to 4% respectively between the years. A slight decline can also be seen in fuel and power from around 6% to 8% from 1968 to 2018.

Looking at increasing consumption, leisure expense can be seen increasing significantly from almost 9% to 22%. Housing expense has also increasy from 10% to almost 19% and transport spending from around 7% to almost 14%. The increases are almost double in comparision from year 1968 to 2018.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main pattern clearly: food spending fell substantially, while housing, transport and leisure rose, and household goods stayed unchanged. The overview also notes declines in fuel and power, clothing and personal goods, so the key directions of change are covered. Most figures are accurate, including food at 35% and about 18%, clothing at 10% to 5%, and leisure at 9% to 22%. However, one important comparison is reversed: fuel and power fell from about 6% to 4%, not increased from 6% to 8%. Transport is about 8% in 1968, rather than 7%. Some features, such as the shift from food as the largest category to leisure as the largest, could be highlighted more explicitly, and the final comparison overgeneralises by saying increases are almost double.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, an overview, and separate paragraphs for falling and rising categories. This makes the main comparisons easy to follow, and phrases such as “Overall” and “Looking at increasing consumption” help signal the stages of the report. The progression is generally logical, with related figures grouped together. To make the organisation more controlled, avoid conversational framing such as “If we talk about” and use more direct topic sentences. The final sentence repeats the idea of increases without distinguishing that leisure rose by more than double, while housing and transport rose by less. More precise links between the overview and the detailed comparisons would also strengthen the flow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of vocabulary for describing chart data, including “sharp decline,” “reduced by half,” “increasing significantly,” and “remains the same.” These expressions communicate the broad trends, although some word choices and collocations are inaccurate or awkward, such as “families weekly expenditure,” “food expense,” and “increasing consumption.” Spelling errors are noticeable in items such as “apperal,” “iteams,” “enegry,” and “comparision,” and they reduce the overall accuracy of the vocabulary. Aim for consistent, natural terms such as “share of weekly income,” “expenditure on food,” and “rose.” Also use the chart’s category labels accurately rather than substituting “energy” for “fuel and power.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and more complex sentences, including comparisons with “from…to…” and a contrast introduced by “whereas.” The overall meaning is usually clear, but some grammatical errors recur. For example, “energy, apparel and personal goods percentage has also declined” has a subject–verb agreement problem, and “Housing expense has also increasy” has an incorrect verb form. Phrases such as “the percentage of families weekly expenditure” also need a clearer grammatical structure, for example, “the percentage of weekly income that families spent.” Some sentences are long and joined with commas, particularly the overview; separating these ideas would improve control. Check articles, plural forms and sentence boundaries when revising.

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