Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-17

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 7.0)

The given bar graph depicts the yearly earnings of residential homes in America during 2007, 2011 and 2015.

The most prominent feature of the bar graph is that the $100,000 annual income was highest in 2015 while the $75,000-$99,999 was lowest in the year 2011.

Overall it can vividly noticed that in 2007, approximately 25 million households earned less than $25,000 annually, while around 27 million fell into the $25,000–$49,999 category. The figures for households earning $50,000–$74,999 and $75,000–$99,999 were about 21 million and 14 million, respectively. Meanwhile, the highest-income group accounted for approximately 29 million households, making it the largest category at that time.

By 2011, the number of households earning less than $25,000 had risen to roughly 28 million, and the $25,000–$49,999 group increased to 30 million. The $50,000–$74,999 and $75,000–$99,999 categories remained stable at approximately 21 million and 14 million. In contrast, the highest-income group declined slightly to around 28 million.

In 2015, the number of households earning $100,000 or more climbed sharply to approximately 33 million, an increase of about 4 million from 2007. The $25,000–$49,999 group stood at around 29 million, while the lowest-income category remained close to 28 million. The $50,000–$74,999 group was unchanged at approximately 21 million, and the $75,000–$99,999 category edged up to 15 million.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The student successfully addresses all parts of the task by reporting the main features and making relevant comparisons across the three years given in the chart. An overview is provided, although it is placed in the second paragraph rather than at the beginning or end, and it focuses on specific data points rather than general trends. The data points cited—such as households earning less than $25,000 at 25 million in 2007 and $100,000 or more rising to 33 million in 2015—accurately reflect the visual data. The response covers all income categories and years well, demonstrating a clear understanding of the information presented in the bar chart. However, integrating a broader opening overview and ensuring more robust comparison would elevate the task response further.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The response exhibits clear logical organization and progression throughout. Information is divided logically by year into distinct paragraphs, making the progression easy to follow. Cohesive devices such as 'meanwhile', 'by 2011', 'in contrast', and 'in 2015' are used effectively to guide the reader through the data. Paragraphing is used appropriately, with each main time period receiving its own paragraph. Referencing is generally clear, though the opening overview sentence is slightly awkwardly embedded. Overall, the essay flows well and maintains a coherent structure from start to finish.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The student uses an adequate and generally appropriate range of vocabulary for the task. Phrases like 'most prominent feature', 'remained stable', 'climbed sharply', and 'edged up' demonstrate a good attempt to describe statistical trends with precision. There are occasional slight awkwardnesses in word choice, such as 'residential homes' instead of 'households', but these do not impede communication. Spelling and word formation are accurate throughout the text, allowing the reader to grasp the comparative data without difficulty.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.0

The writing features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and introductory prepositional phrases effectively (e.g., 'while around 27 million fell into the $25,000–$49,999 category'). Grammatical control is generally strong with a significant proportion of error-free sentences. There is a minor missing word in the second paragraph ('the $100,000 annual income was highest'), where 'category' or 'group' is omitted after the income figure. Punctuation and sentence structures are otherwise well handled, causing no difficulty for the reader.

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