Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-25

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)

The bar chart demostrates the number of households in the US measured in millions, across five different annual revenue groups in 2007, 2011 and 2015.

Overall, the household earnings $100,000 or more showed the noticable increase over the period and had the highest figure in 2015, By contrast, the household earaning $75,000 and $99,000 remained lowest throughout the period.

In 2007, approximately 25 million households earned less than $25,000, while the figure for those earning $25,000-$49,999 and $50,000-$74,999 were around 27 million and 20 million. Around 14 million household earned $75,000-$99,999 and the number of households earning $100,000 or more rose gradually to around 29 million.

In 2011, the number of lowest income group had risen as compared to 2007 but annual income between $50,000-$74,999 and $75,000-$99,999 remained constant and income between $100,000 or more decreased slightly. In 2015, the lowest income group slightly declined to around 28 and 29 million and the household income earned $75,000-$99,999 fluctuated but approximately 34 million people earned $100,000 or more making it the largest catogory at the end of the period.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The student successfully addresses all parts of the task by providing an overview with salient trends and reporting key data points from the chart for the years 2007, 2011, and 2015. The main features, such as the significant rise in households earning $100,000 or more to become the highest category by 2015, are clearly identified and supported with figures. However, there are minor inaccuracies in data reporting, such as stating the lowest income group was around '28 and 29 million' in 2015 when the individual categories were 28 and 28.5 million. Nonetheless, an appropriate selection of data is presented, and comparisons are made effectively where relevant. Overall, the task response is well-developed and meets the requirements.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response is logically organised into four paragraphs: an introduction, an overall summary, and two body paragraphs dedicated to specific years. Information and ideas progress logically throughout the text. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different sections of the visual data. Cohesive devices are generally used adequately, such as 'In 2007', 'In 2011', and 'By contrast'. However, referencing and transitional links occasionally feel slightly mechanical, and there are some punctuation errors (e.g., a comma splice in the second paragraph: '...highest figure in 2015, By contrast...'). Despite these minor faults, the overall arrangement is coherent and easy to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms related to data trends and economics, such as 'households', 'annual revenue', 'highest figure', and 'remained constant'. There are some attempts to use less common vocabulary ('fluctuated', 'catogory'), but these are accompanied by noticeable spelling errors ('demostrates', 'noticable', 'earaning', 'catogory') and occasional awkward word choices (e.g., 'household earnings' instead of 'households earning'). While these lexical errors do not impede communication, they restrict the vocabulary score to a band 6.0 due to recurring inaccuracies in spelling and word form.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating clauses with 'while', 'as', and relative structures. There are several instances of good grammatical control, but also a number of noticeable errors. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues (e.g., 'the household earnings... showed' and 'the figure for those... were'), missing articles or incorrect prepositions, and structural awkwardness such as 'the number of lowest income group had risen'. Punctuation is occasionally faulty, such as comma splices. While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the message, they occur frequently enough to prevent the response from reaching a higher band.

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