Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-29

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 chart below illustrates the average weekly spending by families income in 1968 and in 2018.

Overall, The most noticeable feature is the average of food,it presents the highest percentage of weekly income in the period of 1968 while fuel and power presents the lowest one .in 2018,Leisure has the highest average followed by housing and food ,whereas fuel and power and personal goods has the lowest average.

looking first at the weekly average spent in 1968.food recorded the highet percentage presenting by 35% while fuel and power the lowest presenting around 6%. housing and clothing and footware presents the same averge by 10%. the rest seems similar , leisure presents 8% followed by household goods, personal goods and transport which presents 6%.

turning to 2018, which food presents a significant increase to 17% meanwhile leisure and housing increases respectfully to 22% and 19%.household presents 6% the same average as during 1968. clothing and footware halved from 10 % to 5 %. Meanwhile ,personal goods and fuel and power experienced a little decrease representing the lowest average by 4%. and Transport average doubled representing 12%.

to sum up,it is clear that the figure varied throught the period, with some categories showing an increase while others experienced a decrease.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall6.0

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main contrast: food is the largest category in 1968, while leisure leads in 2018, and you note several increases and decreases. This gives the response a relevant overview and covers both years. However, some figures and comparisons are inaccurate: food falls from 35% to 17%, not “increases” to 17%; household goods are 8% in both years, not 6%; and transport rises from 8% to 14%, rather than doubling to 12%. The 1968 figures for household goods, personal goods and transport are also each 8%, not 6%. These errors weaken the precision of the report, and the final summary that figures “varied” adds little. Check each value against the chart and make the overview more exact.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, an overview, separate descriptions of 1968 and 2018, and a closing sentence. The sequence from one year to the other is easy to follow, and phrases such as “looking first” and “turning to 2018” help signal the shift. This is a coherent structure, though some linking is mechanical or unclear. For example, “meanwhile” does not clearly show the relationship between the figures in the 2018 paragraph, and “the rest seems similar” is vague before the categories are listed. The final “to sum up” repeats the general idea rather than synthesising the key changes. Group categories by rising, falling or stable spending to create smoother progression and clearer comparisons.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant chart vocabulary, including “percentage,” “weekly income,” “significant,” “halved,” and “decrease,” and the reader can generally understand the categories being compared. However, the range and precision are limited by repeated use of “presents” and “average,” and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate. “Food presents a significant increase” reverses the trend and uses an unsuitable verb; “the lowest average” is less precise than describing the smallest share of income. Spelling errors such as “highet,” “averge,” and “throught,” along with inconsistent spelling of “footwear,” also reduce control. Use a wider set of accurate reporting verbs and check spelling carefully; precise vocabulary will make the comparisons clearer.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including comparisons with “while,” “whereas,” and “from…to…”. The overall meaning is usually recoverable, but sentence control is uneven. Several clauses lack a clear grammatical structure, as in “while fuel and power the lowest presenting around 6%” and “which food presents a significant increase.” Subject–verb agreement is also inconsistent: “Leisure has” is followed by “fuel and power and personal goods has,” and “housing and clothing… presents.” Capitalisation and punctuation errors, including lower-case sentence openings and missing spaces after full stops, make the text harder to read. Build complete clauses with a clear subject and verb, and proofread agreement and sentence boundaries.

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