Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-21

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 graph illustrates the deatils regarding families in one nation who spent their weekly income in 1968 and 2018.

Overall, food remained the most popular share of spending, although their share declined. Whereas, the proportion for lesiure, transport and housing increased over the period. However, other sources declined with household goods remained same throughout the period.

In 1968, the share for household spending on food was noted the highest at 35%, While proportion declined considerably at around 17%. Spending on leisure rose from around 9% in 1968 to 22% in 2018, it was more than doubble.

The proportion of people who allocate their income in housing also increased sharply, climbing from 10% in 1968 to nearly 19% in 2018. Meanwhile, household goods noted similar figure for both year. In constrast, spending on fuel and power, clothing and footware and personal goods fell from thier beginning year, indicating a less popular catgories for spending.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

You identify the main overall changes: food’s share fell substantially, while leisure, transport and housing rose, and household goods stayed stable. The key figures for food, leisure and housing are accurately reported, and the response makes relevant comparisons across the two years. This gives the reader a clear account of the chart’s central pattern. However, the overview says that “other sources declined” without specifying the categories or their scale, and the final paragraph does not report the figures for transport or the decreases in fuel and power, clothing and personal goods. The chart’s largest share also shifts from food to leisure, a useful overall feature to state explicitly. More complete coverage and precise comparisons would strengthen the report further.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, an overview and two detail paragraphs. Information generally progresses logically, and linking expressions such as “Overall,” “Meanwhile” and “In contrast” help signal relationships between trends. This provides a coherent arrangement, but cohesion is not consistently smooth. “Whereas” begins a fragment after the overview’s first sentence, and “However” does not clearly connect to the preceding claim about increases. The final paragraph groups three declining categories without figures, so the comparison is less developed than the earlier discussion. Use complete sentences and organise the details into clearer groups—for example, rising categories versus falling or stable ones—to make progression more controlled.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use a reasonable range of task-related vocabulary, including “proportion,” “declined considerably,” “increased sharply” and “climbing,” which helps describe changes rather than simply list figures. Some attempts at varied phrasing are less accurate or natural, however: “most popular share of spending” is not an appropriate collocation for expenditure, and “the proportion of people who allocate their income” describes people rather than the chart’s spending shares. There are also spelling errors, including “deatils,” “lesiure,” “doubble” and “constrast.” These do not prevent understanding, but they limit precision and polish. Prefer standard chart language such as “share of weekly expenditure” and check spelling carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You attempt a mix of simple and more complex structures, including the contrast in “although their share declined” and the participle phrase “climbing from 10% … to nearly 19%.” The main trends remain understandable, but some grammatical errors recur. “Whereas, the proportion…” is an incomplete sentence, while “with household goods remained same” combines structures incorrectly and needs a form such as “while spending on household goods remained the same.” In “the share … was noted the highest,” the passive construction is not formed appropriately. Capitalisation after commas and sentence boundaries also need attention. Aim to make each comparison a complete, accurately structured sentence and check articles and verb forms.

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