Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-15

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 chart compares the salaries ranging from less than 25 thousand dollars to 100,00 thousand dollars and more among different households from 2007 to 2015,with an interval of 3 years.

Overall, people earning from 100,000 dollars or more accounted for the highest numers whereas, those earning 75,000-99,999 dollars had lowest numbers.

In 2007, 25% of households had an income of less than 25,000 dollars,27% belonged to the catagory of 25,000-49,999 dollars while almost 30% were in the range from 100,000 dollars or more.

In 2011, the incomes from less than 25,000 and 25,000 to 49,999 dollars had a rise to about almost 28% and 29%,respectively. while those from the 100,000 dollars range suffered a decline of about 3%.

In 2015, salaries from less than 25,00 to 49,999 dollars stayed within 25% whereas, people with an income of 100,000 dollars had a surge to aboout 33%.

Incomes from 50,000 to 99,999 dollars remained steady throughout the period from 2007 to 2015. 50,000-74,999 dollars accounted for 15% households whereas 75,000-99,999 dollars made up 20% of the total.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You identify the main overall pattern: the $100,000-or-more group is largest in 2015, while the $75,000–$99,999 group is smallest. You also report several relevant changes, including the rise in the two lower-income groups by 2011 and the later increase in the highest-income group. However, some figures are misreported as percentages rather than millions of households: for example, 25, 27 and almost 30 are household counts, not percentages. The final comparison is also inaccurate: the $50,000–$74,999 group was about 21 million, not 15%, and the $75,000–$99,999 group was around 14–15 million, not 20%. The overview is relevant, but more accurate and complete comparisons would strengthen it further.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear basic structure, moving from an introduction and overview to year-by-year details, then ending with the two middle-income categories. This makes the information generally easy to follow. You also use time markers such as “In 2007,” “In 2011” and “In 2015” to signal progression. However, the organisation is somewhat mechanical, and the final paragraph introduces categories that could have been compared alongside the other figures rather than added as an afterthought. Some linking is awkward or unclear, as in “Overall… whereas” and “In 2015… stayed within 25% whereas.” Grouping the categories by trend—such as those that rose, remained stable or fluctuated—would create a more connected comparison and a clearer progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use a reasonable range of task-related vocabulary, including “accounted for,” “rise,” “decline,” “remained steady” and “surge.” These choices help describe changes and comparisons, and the meaning is usually understandable. However, some word choices are imprecise for a chart about household counts: “salaries” and “people earning” refer to individuals rather than the number of households, while “25%” incorrectly suggests a proportion. There are also spelling errors such as “numers,” “catagory” and “aboout,” alongside inconsistent formatting of income ranges. Aim for precise terms such as “households in the income bracket” and “number of households,” and check spelling and number notation carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including clauses joined with “whereas” and time-based openings such as “In 2011.” Most sentences communicate the intended trend, so grammatical errors rarely prevent understanding. Some punctuation and sentence-boundary problems remain, however: “In 2011…” is followed by a lower-case “while” after a full stop, and several commas are attached to the preceding word. The opening sentence also has an awkwardly placed time phrase, while “those earning… had lowest numbers” is missing an article before “lowest.” Review sentence boundaries, comma spacing, articles and the construction of comparisons. More consistently controlled complex sentences would make the report smoother and more accurate.

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