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 compares the variation in ownership of electrical appliances and the number of hours spent performing homechores in households per week in one country from 1920 to 2019.

Overall, the proportion of households with vacuum cleaner has increased significantly over the period, whereas ownership of washing machine decreased in the later years. In terms of number of hours, the minutes decreased dramatically, despite being the highest at the beginning.

Regarding percentage of households with electrical appliances, refrigerator ownership stood at 0% in 1920, before rising to around 53% in 1940 and 90% in 1960. A slight increase from 90% to 100% was seen between 1960 and 1980, which after levelled off. While households with vacuum cleaners accounted for 30% in 1920, which climbed to 100% in 2000 and remained unchanged between 2000 and 2019.

In terms of hours per week, In 1920, households spend 50 hours on homechores, which then decreased to around 35 hours in 1940 and 20 hours in 1960. Between 1960 and 2000, the number of hours declined subsequently and reached the lowest in 2019 at 10 hours per week only.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the broad patterns, especially the sharp rise in refrigerator ownership and the fall in housework hours. However, the overview contains a significant contradiction: it says washing-machine ownership decreased in later years, whereas the chart shows it rising from about 65% in 1980 to 75% in 2019. The overview also omits the refrigerator’s eventual saturation and the overall decline in housework. Some details are accurate, such as vacuum-cleaner ownership reaching 100% by 2000, but the refrigerator figure for 1920 is about 2%, not 0%. The housework account says hours declined between 1960 and 2000, although they remained at about 15 for both years. Select and compare the main trends more precisely, including the washing-machine fluctuation.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The response is organised into a clear introduction, overview and detail paragraphs, and the progression from appliance ownership to housework is easy to follow. Linking expressions such as “Overall,” “Regarding,” and “In terms of” help signal the stages of the report. The appliance paragraph also groups related information effectively. Some sentence connections are less controlled, however: “While households with vacuum cleaners accounted for 30% in 1920, which climbed…” is an incomplete, awkwardly linked construction, and the final paragraph repeats “In terms of” immediately before “In 1920.” Improve the links between clauses and avoid unnecessary repetition so that the otherwise clear progression feels more fluent.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

You use a suitable range of task vocabulary, including “ownership,” “proportion,” “levelled off,” and “declined,” and the meaning is generally clear. There is some flexibility in describing changes, but several choices are imprecise or unnatural for this chart. “Homechores” is not the usual form; use “housework” or “household chores.” “The minutes decreased” confuses minutes with hours, while “decreased subsequently” is an awkward collocation. “Variation in ownership” is less direct than “changes in ownership.” More precise vocabulary would also help distinguish a fall, a rise and a stable period: for example, describe housework hours as falling overall but remaining stable from 1980 to 2000.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex forms, including clauses with “before,” “whereas” and “despite,” and most of the message remains understandable. Some grammatical errors persist. In “ownership of washing machine,” the singular count noun needs an article or plural form. “While households with vacuum cleaners accounted for 30% in 1920, which climbed…” does not form a complete, well-connected sentence. In the final paragraph, “In 1920, households spend” should use past tense, and the capitalised “In” after the preceding comma is incorrect. The phrase “which after levelled off” also has faulty word order. Check sentence completeness, tense consistency and punctuation, especially when combining clauses.

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