Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-30

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 6.5)

The bar graph depicts the number of families in the US by their annual income in 2007,2011 and 2015.

overall, households with annual income morethan $100,000 has the highest number in the initial and final years and the figure for earners between $25,000 and $49,999 keep fluctuating. In contrast, the number for families with yearly income of $50,000-$74,999 remained same throughout the period, and households with annual income of $75,000-$99,000 recorded minimal changes.

It can be seen that households that earn lessthan $25,000 were 25 million in 2007, then the number incresed by around 6 million in 2011 ,and the number decreased to around 24million in 2015. Families with yealy income of $25,000 to $49,999 were morethan 25million in 2007 and this number increased minimally to around 26million in 2015. Earners morethan $100,000 were almost 30 million in 2007 and this number decreased in 2011 before rising to around 33 milion in 2015.

Households with yearly income of $50,000-$74,999 were around 21 million in 2007 and this remained same in 2011 and 2015. For families with annual income of $75,000-99,999 were justunder 15 million in 2007 and this number grew minimally to 15 million in 2015.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The student covers all parts of the task well, providing an overview of the main trends and selecting key data points to report from the chart. For instance, the overview correctly notes that households with an annual income of over $100,000 had the highest numbers in the initial and final years. Body paragraphs successfully detail figures for various income brackets across 2007, 2011, and 2015, such as noting that earners making less than $25,000 were 25 million in 2007 and increased to 28.5 million in 2011. However, there are a few minor inaccuracies in data reporting; for example, the student states that the number for earners below $25,000 decreased to 'around 24 million in 2015' when the chart indicates it was around 28 million. Similarly, figures for the $25,000–$49,999 bracket contain slight misreadings. Despite these minor data inaccuracies, the response effectively summarizes the main features and makes relevant comparisons, meeting the criteria well.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response exhibits a clear overall logical organization, beginning with an introductory sentence, followed by an overview paragraph, and then detailed body paragraphs. Cohesive devices are used to guide the reader through the data, such as 'In contrast', 'It can be seen that', and 'then'. Paragraphing is generally appropriate, separating the overview from the specific data points. However, cohesion can sometimes feel slightly mechanical due to repetitive sentence structures (e.g., beginning multiple sentences with 'Households with...'). Referencing is mostly clear, though paragraph transitions could be smoother. Overall, the writing is coherent and easy to follow, representing a solid Band 6.5 performance.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms such as 'depicts', 'fluctuating', 'minimal changes', and 'earners'. There are several attempts to use less common vocabulary, but these are sometimes marred by spelling errors and word fusion (e.g., 'morethan' instead of 'more than', 'lessthan', 'incresed', 'yealy', 'milion'). Furthermore, some word choices are repetitive, such as the frequent repetition of the phrase 'annual income' and 'households'. While these lexical errors and typos do not prevent understanding, they restrict the vocabulary score to Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and subordinate structures (e.g., 'households with annual income more than $100,000 has the highest number...'). There are, however, several grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('households... has', 'For families with annual income of $75,000-99,999 were') and missing articles. Punctuation errors are also present, such as missing spaces after commas (e.g., '2007,2011'). Despite these recurring errors, the meaning is generally clear and communication is rarely impeded, placing the response firmly in the Band 6.0 category.

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

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