Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-06

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 chat illustrates the number of residents in US by their yearly earnings in 2007, 2011 and 2015. The unit of measuremnet is Dollars.

Overall, the households earning flucuated sligty over the years. The lowest and highest income tier slighty grew or remaind the same, while the middle incomes tier households earnings first rise then fell a bit. Highest earners dominated the list.

Interesitingly, the households with annual income of $100,000 or more were the most dominant in 2007 with just under 30 million which fell to just over 25 million in 2011 and than surged sharply in 2016 where it peaked at a litter under 35 million households. Households with less than $25,000 climbed from 25 million in 2007 to over 25 million in 2015.

Middle income tier households especially $25,000-$49,000 bracket first jumped to around 30 million in 2011 from a little over 25 million in 2007 and then again climbed down in 2015. Households with $50,000- $74,999 and $75,000-$99,000 changed a little bit with 20 million and just under 15 million in 2007 to a little over 20 million and 15 million in 2015, respectively.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by reporting the main features and making relevant comparisons across the years. However, some parts are more fully developed than others, which keeps the score at this level. For instance, while the trends for the highest and lowest income categories are mentioned, some details contain minor inaccuracies, such as stating that the peak occurred in 2016 instead of 2015 based on the chart, or misreporting figures like 'over 25 million in 2015' for the lowest bracket. The overview correctly highlights the general fluctuation and dominance of high earners, but a more fully extended and precise summary of all key trends would be needed to reach a higher tier.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt to structure the information into an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs focusing on different income brackets. Logical progression is generally maintained, and paragraphs are used to group related ideas. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty, as seen in awkward transitions like 'Interesitingly' and 'then again climbed down in 2015'. Additionally, referencing and pronoun use could be smoother to connect ideas more naturally throughout the text. These features show a clear logical structure but lack the seamless flow characteristic of higher bands.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully conveying basic concepts relating to charts and trends. The student attempts less common vocabulary such as 'dominated', 'surged sharply', and 'peaked', but there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors, including 'chat' instead of 'chart', 'measuremnet', 'flucuated sligty', 'remaind', and 'Interesitingly'. Furthermore, collocations like 'climbed down' instead of 'decreased' or 'declined' reflect an emerging rather than precise control of lexical features. These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they prevent the response from achieving a higher mark.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The writer demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and time markers. There are some errors in grammar and punctuation, such as subject-verb agreement issues in 'households earning flucuated', missing articles like 'residents in US', and tense inconsistencies such as 'first rise then fell a bit'. However, these errors are relatively infrequent and rarely impede communication, allowing the reader to follow the intended meaning. To achieve a higher band, the writer would need to produce a wider variety of complex structures with consistently error-free execution.

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

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