Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-04

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)

cambridge writing task 1

Student answer (Band 6.5)

The charts display the data about percentage of electrical appliances ownership, as well as the time spent on housework in households of a specific country from 1920 to 2019.

Overall, it is evident that the electric appliances ownership resulted in a decline in time spent doing household work, which declined sharply at first and then the dropped steadily in the latter years.

Regarding appliances ownership, the percentage of people that onwed a refrigerator was around zero. However, the figures rose tremendously from near zero in 1920 to a peak of 100 percent in 1980 until 2000. Similarly, 30 percent of households had a vacum cleaner, which reached 100% in 2000 until 2019. Washing machine, on the other hand, was the most owned gadget in 1920, with 40% population possessing one. It increased steadily to 60%, before declining a little and hovering around 60% until 2019, and became the least possessed electric device.

In 1920, people spent around 50 hours per week doing house chore. This experienced a dramatic drop to 20 hours per week in 1960, after which the figures declined steadily to 10 hours until 2019.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.5
Lexical Resource6.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy6.0
Overall6.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response successfully addresses all parts of the task by presenting an overview of the trends and reporting key features from both charts. The main features are identified, such as the dramatic rise in appliance ownership like refrigerators reaching 100 percent, and the corresponding decline in housework hours from 50 to 11 hours per week. However, certain parts of the response are slightly under-developed or contain minor inaccuracies in data reporting. For instance, the text claims that refrigerators started at around zero in 1920 when the graph indicates 2 percent, and states that washing machines were the most owned appliance in 1920 when they actually started at 40 percent compared to vacuums at 30 percent. To reach a higher band, the student should ensure greater precision when citing data points and extend the comparisons between the two datasets more thoroughly.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay presents a clear overall progression and logical arrangement, moving from an introduction to an overview, followed by individual body paragraphs detailing appliance ownership and housework hours. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct themes. Cohesive devices are generally present and effective, such as 'Regarding appliances ownership,' 'Similarly,' and 'On the other hand.' However, cohesion can sometimes feel a bit mechanical or repetitive in its linking phrases. Additionally, referencing is occasionally imprecise, as seen in minor awkwardness in transitions. To elevate this criterion, the writer could employ more sophisticated and flexible cohesive devices to link clauses and sentences more smoothly without relying on formulaic transition words.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items and descriptive verbs such as 'tremendously,' 'hovering,' and 'dramatic drop.' Communication is never impeded, and the intended meaning is clear throughout. However, there are some noticeable word choice, word form, and spelling errors that prevent the score from being higher. For example, 'onwed' is a spelling error for 'owned,' 'vacum cleaner' contains a spelling mistake, and phrases like 'electric appliances ownership' and 'house chore' exhibit minor collocation or word-form inaccuracies. To achieve a higher band, the student needs to eliminate these spelling slips and demonstrate more precise lexical control with appropriate collocations and word forms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and introductory prepositional phrases effectively. There is a good attempt at varied sentence structures to convey trends over time. However, there are some recurring grammatical errors and awkward phrasings, such as articles ('percentage of electrical appliances ownership' should include 'the') and subject-verb agreement or preposition usage ('people that onwed a refrigerator was around zero' should be 'were'). Punctuation is generally handled adequately, but the minor errors in grammar persist throughout the text. To reach a higher band, the writer must increase the proportion of error-free sentences and exercise tighter control over complex grammatical structures.

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

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