Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-02
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 illustrates the number of US households by their income in 2007, 2011 and 2015.
Overall, the total number of households increased over the years but the number of households having income between 50,000 USD and 99,999 USD was relatively stable in the given years.
In 2007, the number of households having less income than 25,000 USD was approximately 25 millions which grew to 29 millions in 2011, following a slight reduction to 27.5 millions in 2015. The number of households earning between 25,000 USD and 49,999 USD was approximately 27.5 millions in 2007 and it followed the same pattern as the number households earning below 25,000 USD experienced and it reached 29 millions in 2015.
The number of households who earned between 50,000 USD and 74,999 USD was consistant at approximately 21 millions in the all three years. Similiary, the 75,000 USD to 99,999 USD earning household's figures stayed relatively consistant with having slight drop 2011 after again reaching at the same levels of 2007 which was around 15 millions. However the figures for high earning households who earned more than 100,000 USD fell from 30 millions in 2007 to roughly 27.5 millions in 2011 but it again sharply rose to 34 millions in 2015.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 7.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 6.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 6.0 |
| Overall | 6.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0
The response successfully addresses all parts of the task by providing a clear overview and reporting the main features of US household income across the years 2007, 2011, and 2015. The student accurately highlights key trends, such as the stability of the middle-income brackets and the fluctuations in the lowest and highest brackets. However, there is a slight tendency to over-generalise or lean on minor discrepancies in data reporting, such as minor variations in exact figures (e.g., stating '25 millions' instead of precisely reflecting the bar chart data). The selection of data is generally well-supported, but certain comparisons between categories could be extended more fully to reach a higher level of analytical depth.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5
The essay displays a clear overall progression and logical organisation. Information and ideas are structured into an introduction, an overview paragraph, and two body paragraphs detailing the categories. The response successfully meets the requirements of the lower band and demonstrates some features of the next band through cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'In 2007', and 'However'. Nevertheless, cohesion occasionally feels slightly mechanical, and referencing between sentences can be repetitive, such as the frequent reliance on the phrase 'The number of households who earned'. Paragraphing is used appropriately, but transitions between the middle-income details and high-earning bracket could be smoother to achieve a fully seamless flow.
Lexical Resource: Band 6.0
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items related to data reporting such as 'fluctuated', 'stable', 'reduction', and 'sharply rose'. However, there are some word choice and spelling inaccuracies, such as writing 'millions' instead of 'million' when attached to a numeral, and spelling 'consistant' instead of 'consistent'. These minor lexical errors do not impede communication, but they restrict the response to this band. To improve, the student should focus on precise word formation, collocation, and avoiding repetition of basic descriptive verbs.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0
The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and subordinate structures successfully, such as in the sentence starting with 'The number of households who earned between...'. There are some persistent errors in grammar and punctuation, including missing articles or minor prepositional awkwardness like 'drop 2011' and 'reaching at the same levels'. However, these errors rarely impede communication and the majority of simple sentences are accurate. The student shows good control over basic tense usage across different years, though punctuation around introductory clauses could be refined.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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