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 bar chart compares the information of average weekly spending by families in 1968 and 2018.The data is categorized into eight groups.

Overall, in the weekly spending by families over the 50 years, leisure substantially growth,accounted for the highest figure.In contrast, the porpotion of spending on food declined slightly, while personal goods declined althought it remained the most widely thing in both.

At the beginning of the period in 1968,food is recorded 35% of totalwhich was the highest than all other groups.Housing, clothing and footware stood at 10% of both equal,repectively.while leisure were found at 8%,followed by household goods and personal goods both at 7%,respectively.In addition transport registered 7% as well.In contrast fuel and power remained the at only 6% which was the lowest figure.

Over the following years in 2018,the leisure rose from 8% to 23% representning the most significant growth.On the other hand, housing increased sharply from 10% to 18%.In addition transport also grew from 7% to 13%.While household goods reamined on 7% in both years.The spending on food fall sharply from 35% to 17%.Clothing and footware also decreased from 10% to 5%.In contrast fuel and power showed smaller reduction from 7% to 4%, comapred to the personal goods which declined more, from 7% to 3%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You identify the main contrast between the two years and report several important changes, including the fall in food spending and rises in leisure, housing and transport. The overview also attempts to highlight the largest category and notable shifts. However, some details are inaccurate: leisure was 9% in 1968, not 8%; household goods, personal goods and transport were each 8%, not 7%; and personal goods fell from 8% to 4%, rather than 7% to 3%. The overview also says food declined “slightly,” although its share fell substantially, and incorrectly suggests it remained the most widely spent-on category in 2018, when leisure was highest. Correcting these points and making the overview more precise would strengthen an otherwise relevant summary.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate paragraphs describing the two years and their changes. This gives the reader a generally logical route through the information. You also use linking expressions such as “Overall,” “In contrast,” and “On the other hand” to signal comparisons. At times, however, these links are mechanical or do not fit the relationship clearly, and punctuation makes some transitions difficult to follow—for example, “Housing, clothing and footware stood at 10% of both equal,repectively.while leisure…” The final paragraph also lists many changes in quick succession. Grouping increases together and decreases together, with clearer sentence boundaries and references, would make the progression smoother and more flexible.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant chart vocabulary, including “accounted for,” “registered,” “declined,” and “increased sharply,” and you attempt to vary how changes are described. However, several word-choice, collocation, word-form and spelling problems limit precision. Phrases such as “the information of average weekly spending,” “the most widely thing,” and “leisure substantially growth” are unnatural or unclear. There are also noticeable spelling errors, including “porpotion,” “repectively,” “representning,” and “comapred.” Some descriptions are imprecise: “declined slightly” does not convey the large fall in food spending. Build a reliable set of chart collocations and check spelling and word forms so your vocabulary communicates comparisons accurately.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including comparisons with “while” and “although,” and the reader can usually understand the intended trends. However, grammatical control is uneven, particularly in verb forms, articles, sentence boundaries and clause construction. For example, “leisure substantially growth” lacks a correctly formed verb, while “food is recorded 35%” uses an unsuitable tense and structure for past data. The sentence beginning “Housing, clothing and footware stood…” is also incomplete or poorly joined to the following clause. Missing spaces after full stops and commas further affect punctuation. Practise describing past figures with accurate forms such as “stood at,” “rose from…to…” and “fell to,” and proofread each sentence for a complete clause and correct tense.

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