Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-17

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 chart illustrates the number of households in US lying in different economy ranges for the years 2007, 2011 and 2015. The value of number of people in shown in millions, and the 5 categories for annual income are less than $25k, $25k to 49.99k, $50 to $74.99, $75 to $99.99 and more than 100k.

The overall trend shows an increase for all the categories excluding the 3th category ($50 to $74.99), the value increased at the end when compared from the initial but seen fluctuations in between, it figures were either maximum or minimum in 2011. For $50 to $74.99 range, the number of households remained constant.

For the lowest earning category range (less than $25k), the number of people increased from 25M (2007) to around 28M in 2015 and remained highest in 2011 that is 29M. The same pattern is followed by other categories except the 3th category ($50 to $74.99), for the 2nd category the values in 2007, 2011 and 2015 were around 27M, 30M (maximum) and 28M respectively. For the 4rd category ranging from $75 to $99.99 the values in 2007, 2011 and 2015 were around 14M, 13M (minimum) and 15M respectively. And for the 5th category (more than 100k), the values in 2007, 2011 and 2015 were around 29M, 27M (minimum) and 33M respectively

And For the 3rd category ranging from $50 to $74.99 the values in 2007, 2011 and 2015 were similary in all the years and was were around 21M.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

You cover all five income groups and report the main patterns, including the stable middle-income category and the rise in households earning $100,000 or more by 2015. Most figures are close to the chart, and you correctly identify the 2011 low for the highest-income group. The overview is useful, but its claim that all categories except the third increased overall is not accurate: the $25,000–$49,999 group rose from about 27 million to 28.5 million, while the $75,000–$99,999 group also rose; however, the lowest-income group ended around 28 million, above its 2007 level. Some descriptions are imprecise, such as saying the lowest group was 29 million in 2011. A more selective, accurate overview would strengthen the report further.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and paragraphs reporting category details. This makes the information generally easy to follow, and phrases such as “For the lowest earning category” help signal a shift. However, the overview repeats information that is then listed again, and the final paragraph returns to the third category after it has already been discussed, weakening progression. Several links are mechanical or unclear, particularly “The same pattern is followed by other categories,” since the categories do not all follow the same pattern. Improve cohesion by grouping categories with similar trends and using clearer references, while avoiding repeated summaries of the same figures.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant task vocabulary, including “categories,” “remained constant,” “increased,” and “fluctuations,” so the chart is understandable. However, the range and precision are limited by repeated use of “values” and “category,” and some expressions are not natural for describing this data. “Different economy ranges” is unclear, while “number of people” incorrectly labels the chart’s measure, which is households. Income bands should be named consistently and precisely; for example, use “households earning less than $25,000” rather than abbreviated or incomplete labels such as “$50 to $74.99.” More accurate collocations and a wider range of trend verbs would make the report more fluent and precise.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including comparisons across years, and the overall meaning is usually recoverable. However, errors in sentence construction and agreement occur often enough to make some sentences awkward. For example, “the value of number of people in shown” is missing grammatical elements, and “it figures were either maximum or minimum” has incorrect pronoun and verb forms. The sentence beginning “the value increased at the end…” also joins ideas without a clear grammatical structure. There are errors in ordinal forms (“3th,” “4rd”) and punctuation around sentence openings and category labels. Practise building complete sentences with a clear subject and verb, and check agreement and punctuation when combining clauses.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.