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 chart compare the percentage of weekly income spent on eight different categories by people in 1968 and 2018.

Overall, food accounted for the largest proportion of weekly income in 1968, whereas leisure and housing became the biggest spending categories in 2018. Spending on the food, clothing, fuel and personal goods decreased, while expenditure on housing, transport and leisure increased.

In ,1968, people spent approximately 35% of their weekly income on food making it the largest category. However, this figure fell significantly to around 17% in 2018. Similarly, spending on clothing and footwear decreased from about 10% to 5%. The proportional spent on fuel and power also declined, from approximately 6% to 4%. Personal goods followed the same trend, falling from around 8% to 4%.

In contrast, expenditure on housing increased from approximately 10% in 1968 to 195 in 2018. Spending on transport also rose, from about 8% to 14%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main shift away from food and towards housing and leisure, and support this with relevant figures such as food falling from 35% to 17% and clothing from 10% to 5%. The overview also groups several decreases and increases effectively. However, coverage is uneven: leisure is named as a leading category in 2018 but its rise from 9% to 22% is not reported in the body, and household goods, which remained at about 8%, are omitted. The housing figure “195” is inaccurate and should be 19%; this also obscures the comparison. The response therefore presents relevant key features, but some are underdeveloped or unclear. Include the missing major changes and check figures against the chart.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, a summary of the main trends, and body paragraphs contrasting decreases with increases. Linking expressions such as “Overall,” “Similarly,” and “In contrast” help the reader follow the comparisons, and the sequence of declining categories is easy to understand. This already gives the report a coherent progression. To make the organisation more consistently effective, ensure that each paragraph develops the features introduced in the overview: leisure is highlighted there but not followed up in the body, while the final paragraph ends after transport. A clearer grouping of all rising categories, including leisure, and a final comparison would make the progression feel more complete. There are also a few punctuation and spacing slips that interrupt the otherwise readable flow.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

You use a suitable range of task vocabulary, including “accounted for,” “proportion,” “declined,” and “expenditure,” and you vary the wording for spending rather than repeating one verb throughout. These choices are appropriate for describing a chart and generally communicate the trends clearly. Some word forms and collocations are less accurate, however: “The proportional spent” should be “the proportion spent” or “the proportion of income spent,” and “the food” is less natural than “food” in this context. The chart label is “footwear,” not “footware.” The phrase “195” also appears to be a typing or figure error for 19%, which affects precision. More consistent use of accurate category labels and natural collocations would strengthen the report.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and more complex structures, including the contrast in “Overall, food accounted for the largest proportion … whereas leisure and housing became…” and the participle construction “food making it the largest category.” Most relationships between ideas remain understandable. Some grammatical errors are present, though: “The bar chart compare” needs subject–verb agreement (“compares”), and “In ,1968” has incorrect punctuation and word order. The construction “food … making it” would be clearer with a comma before “making,” while “the proportional spent” also reflects an incorrect grammatical form. These errors do not generally prevent understanding, but proofreading agreement, punctuation, and sentence construction would improve accuracy while retaining your range of structures.

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