Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-18

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 graph compares the number of households in us, measured in millions acoross five different annual income categories in 2007,2011 and 2015.

overall, households earning $100,000 or more showed the most notable increase over the period,becoming the largest income group by 2015.By comparison,the number of households in the remaining categories fluctuated only slightly,with the $50,000-$74,99 remained virtually unchanged.

IN 2007,the number of households earning $100,000 or more stood at 29 million.while, the figure slightly drifted downward to approximately 28 million in 2011,it then rose substantially, to around 33 million in 2015, showing a notable upward trajectory. conversely,income group $25,000-$49,999 and less than $25000 showed around 25-28 million, respectively, in 2007,In 2011, the figures for these two stood at approximately 29-30 million and finished around 28-29 million by 2015. The two income groups with their households earning $50,000-99,999 remained stable around 21 million and 14 million respectively, throughout the period.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The student successfully addresses all parts of the prompt by providing a clear summary of the main features and making relevant comparisons across the five income categories. An overview is clearly stated in the second paragraph, highlighting the significant growth of households earning $100,000 or more and the stability of the $50,000-$74,999 group. Key data points are cited to support the description, such as the figures for the highest income bracket and the stable groups. Although some minor grouping of data (e.g., combining the lower brackets in a generalized way) is slightly imprecise, the overall response effectively covers the essential trends presented in the bar chart. It meets all the core requirements for task fulfillment.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is organized into logical paragraphs, beginning with an introduction, followed by an overview, and concluding with detailed body information. Cohesive devices are used to connect ideas, such as 'overall', 'By comparison', and 'conversely'. However, there are some noticeable mechanical issues with spacing, punctuation, and capitalization (e.g., missing spaces after commas, 'overall,' starting mid-sentence without proper casing). Progression is generally clear throughout, but the flow is occasionally disrupted by awkward sentence boundaries and punctuation errors, which prevent the text from achieving a higher band in this category.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task, with attempts to incorporate less common functional phrases such as 'upward trajectory', 'drifted downward', and 'virtually unchanged'. However, there are lexical inaccuracies and typos present in the text, such as '$50,000-$74,99 remained' (missing the '000' and 'ed' suffix error) and '$25000' lacking a comma. While the student demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey the main trends, word choice and precision are occasionally flawed, placing this response firmly in the Band 6 range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, utilizing subordinate clauses and participial phrases like 'showing a notable upward trajectory'. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are numerous punctuation errors, missing spaces, and capitalization mistakes (e.g., starting sentences with lowercase letters like 'overall,' and 'while, the figure'). Furthermore, there are awkward constructions such as 'income group $25,000-$49,999 and less than $25000 showed around 25-28 million, respectively'. While these errors rarely impede overall communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the score from reaching Band 7.

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