Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-28

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 chart illustrates the information about families average weekly spending in one country between 1968 and 2018.

Overall, spending on food constituted the largest proportion among all expenses in 1968. In contrast, leisure represented the highest spending, while personal goods, fuel and power accounted for the lowest spending goods in 2018.

In 1968, spending on food accounted for 35%, and this figure declined significantly, at 17% in 2018, which is almost half than before. Spending money on leisure increased significantly from 9% in 1968 to 22% in 2018. While spending on housing also rose rapidly fron 10% in 1968 to nearly 19% in 2018.

In contrast, spending on personal goods and fuel and powder stood at 8% and 6%, respectively in 1968 and spending these items dicreased slighly each at 4% in 2018, making them the lowest spending items. Spending on transport increased from 8% in 1968 to 14% in 2018 and spending on household goods remained same for both years at 8%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You identify the main shift from food to leisure and report several relevant figures accurately, including food falling from 35% to 17%, leisure rising from 9% to 22%, and household goods remaining at 8%. The overview also captures the leading category in each year. This gives the response a clear account of the chart’s central pattern. However, the overview’s claim that personal goods and fuel and power were the lowest categories in 2018 overlooks clothing, which was also low at 5%, and the comparison of the smaller categories is less fully developed. To strengthen the response further, make the overview more precise and compare the main increases and decreases together, including clothing’s fall from 10% to 5%.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The response is organised into a clear introduction, overview and two detail paragraphs, and the information generally progresses logically from the broad pattern to individual categories. Linking expressions such as “Overall” and “In contrast” help signal the comparisons, while grouping the smaller categories in the final paragraph is effective. Some connections are less smooth: the sentence beginning “While spending on housing…” is a fragment, and the repeated pattern “spending on…” makes parts of the report feel mechanical. The final paragraph also combines several comparisons in a long sentence, which slightly weakens clarity. Use complete sentences and vary the way you introduce categories, while keeping the current clear paragraph structure.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of task-related vocabulary, including “constituted,” “accounted for,” “declined significantly,” and “remained same,” so the main trends are understandable. There are, however, some inaccurate or awkward choices that limit precision. “Spending goods” is not a natural way to describe categories, and “powder” changes the chart label “power.” The phrase “almost half than before” is also an imprecise comparison; “almost half the 1968 figure” would be clearer. Spelling slips such as “fron” and “dicreased” further reduce accuracy. Aim for consistent, natural collocations such as “accounted for a share of weekly income” and check spelling and chart labels carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You attempt a mix of simple and more complex structures, including a contrast clause (“In contrast…”) and a relative clause (“which is almost half…”). Most meanings remain clear, but some grammatical errors are present. “While spending on housing also rose…” is an incomplete sentence because the “while” clause has no main clause. In “spending on household goods remained same,” the article “the” is needed before “same”; “spending these items decreased” also needs a grammatical construction such as “spending on these items decreased.” The sentence beginning “In contrast” is overloaded, making its structure harder to follow. Build complex comparisons as complete sentences and check articles and prepositions in these patterns.

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