Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-09

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The charts below show the changes in ownership of electrical appliances and amount of time spent doing housework in households in one country between 1920 and 2019.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Percentage of households with electrical appliances (1920-2019)

Student answer (Band 6.0)

The given charts illustrate the change in percentage of households owning electronic devices (washing machines, refrigerator and vaccum cleaner) and the weekly time spent doing basic house chores such as cleaning, laundry and cooking, over a century.

Overall, there is a significant decrease in the amount of time spent in housework, starting from 50 hours a week in 1920 to mere10 hours weekly in 2019. However, the number of households owning electric appliances rose sharply, from as low as 0% in some cases, rising to 100% over the century.

Starting from the change in use of electrical appliances, none of the households were using refrigerators in 1920, while the number of households using vaccum cleaner and washing machines were 30% and 40% respectively. In 1960, the use of refrigerators surpassed the use of other appliances showing that 90% of households are using them, while the use of vaccum cleaners and washing machines were exactly the same at 70%. From 2000 and past, 100% of houses had refrigerators and vaccum cleaners while washing machines were lying between 70-80%.

Moing towards the time spent on household tasks, they were spending 50 hours a week in cleaning, cooking and laundry. This time was declined significantly to 20 hours in 1960 while it was only 10 hours per week until 2019.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response covers all parts of the task, providing a clear overview and selecting key features from both charts. You successfully identified the inverse relationship between appliance ownership and housework time. However, the description of the data is slightly inconsistent; for instance, you state that by 2000, 100% of houses had refrigerators and vacuum cleaners, but the graph shows the vacuum cleaner line peaking at 100% while the refrigerator line is slightly lower. Additionally, the statement that washing machines were 'lying between 70-80%' in 2000 is a bit vague. To improve, ensure your data points are precise and directly supported by the visual evidence provided.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs focusing on the two distinct datasets. Cohesive devices such as 'Starting from', 'However', and 'Moving towards' are used to guide the reader through the information. While the progression is generally clear, some transitions feel slightly mechanical. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the two main topics. To reach a higher band, focus on using a wider variety of cohesive devices and ensuring that the relationship between sentences is more fluid, rather than relying on simple sequence markers.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'illustrate', 'significant decrease', and 'surpassed'. There are some minor errors, such as the spelling of 'vaccum' (should be 'vacuum') and 'Moing' (should be 'Moving'). The phrase 'mere 10 hours' is a good use of descriptive language. To improve, try to incorporate more sophisticated collocations and ensure spelling accuracy. Avoid repetitive phrasing when describing trends; for example, instead of saying 'the use of... were', you could use 'the adoption of...' or 'the prevalence of...'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical slips, such as 'none of the households were using' (should be 'no households were using') and 'this time was declined' (should be 'this time declined'). Subject-verb agreement is occasionally inconsistent, such as 'the number of households... were'. While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. To improve, focus on mastering passive voice constructions and ensuring consistent verb tense usage when describing historical data.

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

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