Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-07-25

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The chart below shows the number of households in the US by their annual income in 2007, 2011 and 2015.

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.

Student answer (Band 6.0)

This histogram chart represent the years on X-axis and the income by households on Y-axis. We have data for 3 quarters each of 4 years. i.e 2007, 2011 and 2015 and income is divided into 5 categories. In year 2007, almost 30 million households were earning 0.1 million or more which decreased to 27 million by the year 2015 and then surged to 33 million in 2015. People earning less than 25 thousand also increased by 2 million till 2015.

Interesting is that people earning between 50,000 to 74,999 remained same for all 8 years at 21 million. People earning 75,000 to 99,999 slightly changed in these years. So the whole histogram charts show that annual income of US households increased after each 4 years and never declined which is evidence of good economic conditions of the households and they haven't faced any recession or financial challenges in recent years.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response attempts to summarize the data but fails to accurately report the main features. There are significant factual errors, such as claiming the number of households earning $100,000+ decreased to 27 million and then surged to 33 million in 2015, which does not align with the provided chart. Furthermore, the analysis concludes that incomes 'never declined' and that households 'haven't faced any recession', which is an inaccurate interpretation of the data and an inappropriate subjective conclusion for an Academic Task 1 report. The overview is missing, and the data selection is inconsistent.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response is organized into two short paragraphs, but the logical progression is weak. The transition between sentences is often abrupt, and the use of cohesive devices is limited and sometimes mechanical (e.g., 'Interesting is that...'). The paragraphing is insufficient, as the entire analysis is crammed into two blocks without a clear separation between the overview and the supporting details. Referencing is sometimes unclear, making it difficult for the reader to follow the intended comparison between the years.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is basic and repetitive. Phrases like 'histogram chart' (it is a bar chart) and 'remained same' indicate a limited range. There are errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'represent the years on X-axis' and 'income by households'. The student struggles to use precise terminology to describe trends, relying on simple verbs like 'increased' or 'changed' without the nuance required for a Band 6 or higher. The vocabulary is just sufficient to convey the basic meaning but lacks flexibility.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but accuracy is inconsistent. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'This histogram chart represent' (subject-verb agreement), 'each of 4 years' (the data is for 2007, 2011, 2015, which is not 4 years), and 'remained same' (missing article). Punctuation is also problematic, particularly with the use of 'i.e' and sentence fragments. While the meaning is generally clear, the frequency of errors is high enough to impact the overall quality of the writing.

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