Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-26

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 graph compares the percentage of information how families spent their income in eight different categories in 1968 and in 2018.

Overall, food and leisure spent significantly more income in both years. Fuel and power were the least spent category, while remaining activities were stable as compared to others.

In 1968, Food were the highest spent activity, accounted for the 35% of the weekly income. Housing and clothing expenditure were 10% of the weekly income. Household goods and personal goods were at same position with 8% spent of the weekly income.

In 2018, leisure category had risen considerably to 23% in weekly spent income. Transport expenses increased to 14% whereas housing category also climbed up to 19% as compared to 10%. Fuel and power and personal goods spent income had declined to 4%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the two years and report several important changes, including food falling from 35% and housing rising from 10% to 19%. However, the overview is not fully accurate: food was the largest category in 1968, but leisure—not fuel and power—was the largest in 2018, and fuel and power was not the lowest in both years. The claim that “remaining activities were stable” is also too broad, since clothing and personal goods declined while transport rose. Several figures or comparisons are omitted, including the fall in food to 17% and the unchanged household-goods figure. The response is also 17 words below the required minimum. Add a more precise overview and cover the main increases, decreases and stable category.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear basic structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate paragraphs for 1968 and 2018. This makes the two years easy to follow, and phrases such as “whereas” and “as compared to” attempt to connect comparisons. However, the progression is weakened by grouping information inconsistently: the 1968 paragraph omits transport and leisure, while the 2018 paragraph does not systematically compare all categories with their earlier figures. Some links are also awkward or unclear, such as “while remaining activities were stable as compared to others.” Organise the details around increases, decreases and unchanged spending, and use explicit comparisons between years to create a more connected account.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use a reasonable range of topic vocabulary, including “weekly income,” “expenditure,” “increased,” “declined” and “climbed up.” These choices generally make the subject understandable, and you attempt to avoid repeating the same verb. However, several word combinations are inaccurate or unnatural, such as “percentage of information,” “food and leisure spent significantly more income,” and “highest spent activity.” “Remaining activities” is also vague when referring to spending categories. Use precise chart language and natural collocations, for example, “the proportion of income allocated to food” and “the largest spending category.” Check spelling as well: “footware” should be “footwear.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more developed sentence forms, including a comparison with “whereas” and a relative comparison in “as compared to 10%.” The main meaning is usually recoverable, but some errors in agreement, articles and sentence construction remain. For example, “Food were” should be “Food was,” and “Food … accounted for the 35%” needs the article removed. The overview sentence “food and leisure spent significantly more income” has an unclear grammatical relationship between the categories and the spending. There is also a sentence fragment-like construction in “Household goods and personal goods were at same position.” Practise forming complete comparison sentences with accurate subjects and verbs, and check articles and agreement during revision.

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