Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-12

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 6.5)

The line graph illustrates the percentage of electrical appliances and the average number of hours spent on housework per week from 1920 to 2019.

Overall, the ownership of refrigerators and vacuum cleaners increased considerably over the period, while the ownership of washing machines slightly declined before 1960 and remained constant thereafter. The average number of hours of housework per week decreased dramatically over the years.

The ownership of refrigerators rose from almost 0% in 1920 to nearly 100% in 1980 and remained constant until 2019. The ownership of vacuum cleaners increased around 30% in 1920 to 100% in the year 2000 and remained relatively stable. Washing machines increased approximately 40% in 1920 to 70% in 2019, with some fluctuation.

The average time spent on housework fell consistently throughout the period. In 1920, it was approximately 50 hours per week on domestic chores. This figure dropped to around 30 hours in 1940 and 15 hours in 1960. By the 1980, it had decreased to roughly 10 hours and fall further in 2019.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You provide a clear overview of the main trends: refrigerator and vacuum-cleaner ownership rose, while housework time fell. Most figures are broadly accurate, including refrigerators reaching almost full ownership by 1980 and vacuum cleaners reaching 100% by 2000. However, some details are imprecise or misleading. Washing-machine ownership did not decline before 1960: it rose from 40% to 70%, dipped to about 65% in 1980, then increased to 75% by 2019. The claim that it “remained constant thereafter” in the overview therefore misses the later rise. Housework fell to about 20 hours in 1960 and 15 in 1980, rather than 15 and 10 respectively; the final figure is about 11 hours. More precise comparisons would make the report more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response is organised effectively into an introduction, an overview and two detail paragraphs, and the progression from appliance ownership to housework hours is easy to follow. Linking expressions such as “Overall,” “while,” and “By” help signal relationships between information. This clear structure is a strength. To make the organisation more flexible and cohesive, group the appliance trends through direct comparisons rather than presenting each as a separate statement, and connect the final housework figures more explicitly. For example, “After falling to 15 hours in 1980, the figure remained unchanged in 2000 before reaching 11 hours in 2019” would show the stages and comparisons more clearly. The current sequence is coherent, though some links between data points are quite basic.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

You use an appropriate range of task vocabulary, including “ownership,” “increased considerably,” “remained constant,” “fluctuation,” and “domestic chores.” These choices communicate the main trends clearly, and there is some variation in how changes are described. A few expressions are imprecise or awkward for describing chart data: “increased around 30%” would be clearer as “rose from around 30%,” while “the percentage of electrical appliances” is not quite accurate because the chart shows the percentage of households owning them. Repetition of “increased” and “remained” also limits flexibility. More precise verbs such as “climbed,” “levelled off,” and “edged up” would help you describe changes and plateaus with greater control.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You use a mix of simple and more complex structures, including the contrast in “while the ownership of washing machines…” and the time clause “until 2019.” Most sentences are understandable, and errors do not prevent the reader from following the report. Some grammatical slips remain. In “increased around 30%,” the comparison needs a structure such as “increased from around 30%”; “to 100% in the year 2000” needs “to 100% in 2000” or “reached 100%”; and “By the 1980” should be “By 1980.” The final clause, “and fall further in 2019,” should use the past form “fell.” Greater accuracy in these patterns, alongside varied sentence structures, would strengthen the writing.

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