Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-11-03

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 the US by their annual earnings in 2007,2011 and 2015.

Overall, the households with yearly income of 100,000 or more were largest in number in both 2007 and 2015 .In 2011,however this income group reported a slight decline.The number of households with annual income of 50,000-74,000 and 75,000-99,99000 remained almost stable in all these years.Meanwhile the number of houses with annual earnings of less than 25,000 and 25,000-49,999 stayed almost the same in every year .

In 2007,around 29 million households had annual income of 100,000 ,surpassing all other income groups.26 million households had earned 25,000-49,000 and 25 million houses had less than 25,000 yearly income.Around 21 million households were those that had an annual income of 50,000 -74,000 while the lowest number of households around 14 million had an annual income of 75,000- 999,000.

By 2011,households with more than 1,00000 income dropped to 27 million and the number of households that had yearly income of less than 25,000 and 25,000 - 49,000 increased.While houses with 50 ,000 and 75,000 and above remained almost the same as in 2007.

In 2015,the highest number of households had annual earnings of 100,000 and above while all other categories were almost the same as 2011.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You identify the main high-income category and give a clear overview of broad patterns, then support it with figures for 2007 and changes in 2011 and 2015. Several details are accurate, including the roughly 21 million households in the $50,000–$74,999 group and the rise in the $100,000-or-more group by 2015. However, the overview overstates stability: the two lower-income groups rose to around 28–29.5 million in 2011 before easing slightly, rather than staying almost the same in every year. The $75,000–$99,999 group also changed only modestly, while the top group reached about 33.5 million in 2015. Some figures and income bands are imprecise or misreported, so make comparisons more exact and distinguish the categories consistently.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a sensible four-paragraph structure: an introduction and overview followed by chronological detail. This gives the reader a clear route through the years, and linking expressions such as “Overall,” “By 2011,” and “In 2015” help signal the stages. The progression is generally coherent, but some connections are awkward or unclear. For example, “While houses with 50,000 and 75,000 and above remained almost the same” is a fragment and does not clearly identify which income bands are meant. The overview also repeats the idea that categories were “almost the same,” which weakens the comparison. To strengthen cohesion, group related categories together and use precise references rather than repeating broad claims.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for describing a chart, including “illustrates,” “surpassing,” “decline,” and “remained almost stable.” These choices show some range beyond basic description. However, word choice and collocation are often imprecise: “houses” is used for households, “reported a slight decline” makes the income group sound like an agent, and “had earned” is less suitable for describing household totals. Income labels are also written inconsistently, including “100,000,” “1,00000,” and “999,000,” which can confuse the reader about the categories. Use standard forms such as “households earning $100,000 or more” and repeat the exact income bands consistently. More precise verbs such as “rose,” “fell,” and “remained stable” would improve clarity.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and more complex sentences, including contrast with “while” and time clauses such as “By 2011.” The overall meaning is usually recoverable, but some sentence structures and punctuation are faulty. “While houses with 50,000 and 75,000 and above remained almost the same as in 2007” is an incomplete subordinate clause; attach it to a main clause or rewrite it as a complete sentence. There are also spacing and punctuation problems, such as missing spaces after commas and the misplaced space before the full stop in “2015 .In 2011.” Some sentences would benefit from clearer grammatical control when listing categories. Check sentence boundaries and ensure each clause has a complete main structure.

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