Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-08-27

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)

The bar chart compares the number of households in the US with respect to their annual income which is devided in five different categories in the years 2007, 2011 and 2015.

Overall, in two out of three years most of the households had an annual income of one hundred thousand dollars or more while the number of families having the annual income between $75 thousand to one hundred thousand, were the least in each year.

The number households which had an annual income less then $25,000 were around 25 millioni in 2007 all over the US, which increased to abount 28 million in 2011 and slightly decreased until the year 2015. The families with annual income ranging $25,000-$49,999 were approximately 27 million in the first year which rose near to 30 million in 2011 and dropped back to almost 28 million in 2015.

Households having income ranging from $50,000-$74,999 stood constant at around 21 million during the whole survey. In the end, the number of familes with the most income of $100,000+ were around 29 million in the first year which declined a bit to around 27 million in 2011 and rose sharply to aprox 33 million in 2015.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response covers all parts of the task and provides a clear overview of the main trends. You successfully identified the key features, such as the fluctuations in the $100,000+ category and the relative stability of the $50,000-$74,999 group. However, the overview is slightly inaccurate; you stated that the $100,000+ group was the most common in two out of three years, but the data shows the $50,000-$74,999 or $25,000-$49,999 brackets were often higher in 2007 and 2011. Ensure your summary accurately reflects the data provided to reach a higher band.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, overview, and body paragraphs. Each paragraph focuses on specific income brackets, which helps the reader follow the information. You use some cohesive devices like 'In the end' and 'Overall', though the transition between sentences could be more varied. The progression of ideas is generally smooth, but the referencing could be improved to avoid repetitive sentence structures. Overall, the paragraphing is appropriate and contributes to a coherent response.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'fluctuated', 'declined', and 'rose sharply'. However, there are several spelling errors, such as 'devided', 'millioni', 'abount', and 'aprox', which detract from the professional tone. While you successfully use some topic-specific vocabulary related to data reporting, the frequency of these minor errors limits the score. To improve, focus on proofreading your work to catch these slips, as they are easily avoidable.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, which is appropriate for this task. There are some grammatical inaccuracies, such as 'less then' instead of 'less than' and 'the number households' missing a preposition. Additionally, the phrase 'the number of families having the annual income... were the least' contains a subject-verb agreement error ('number... was'). While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. Increasing the variety of complex structures while ensuring subject-verb agreement will help improve your accuracy.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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