Key features to report

• Food was by far the biggest expense in 1968 at 35% of weekly income, but its share roughly halved to about 17% by 2018.
• Leisure saw the largest rise, from about 9% to about 22%, making it the biggest category in 2018.
• Housing almost doubled from 10% to about 19%, and transport rose from 8% to about 14%.
• Clothing and footwear fell by half from 10% to 5%, personal goods also halved from 8% to about 4%, and fuel and power dropped slightly from about 6% to about 4%.
• Household goods was the only category with no change, at 8% in both years.
• The general pattern is a shift from spending on basic necessities such as food and clothing towards housing, transport and leisure.

Model overview

Overall, families shifted their spending away from basic necessities such as food and clothing towards housing, transport and leisure. Food, which was by far the largest expense in 1968, had been overtaken by both leisure and housing by 2018.

Paragraph plan

1. 1

   Introduction

   Paraphrase the task: the bar chart compares the proportion of their weekly income that families in one country spent on eight categories in 1968 and 2018.

2. 2

   Overview

   State the main pattern without figures: spending moved from necessities like food and clothing to housing, transport and leisure, and food lost its position as the largest category.

3. 3

   Body paragraph 1: categories that fell

   Describe food (35% to about 17%), clothing and footwear (10% to 5%), personal goods (8% to about 4%) and fuel and power (about 6% to 4%).

4. 4

   Body paragraph 2: categories that rose or stayed the same

   Describe leisure (about 9% to about 22%, the largest in 2018), housing (10% to about 19%) and transport (8% to about 14%), then note that household goods stayed at 8%.

Useful comparisons

• Group the categories into those that fell (food, clothing and footwear, personal goods, fuel and power), those that rose (leisure, housing, transport) and the one that did not change (household goods).
• Compare the rankings: food was top in 1968, while leisure and housing were the top two in 2018, with food third.
• Highlight the categories that halved: food, clothing and footwear, and personal goods.
• Highlight the categories that roughly doubled or more: leisure and housing.
• Contrast the gap in 1968, when food took more than three times the share of any other item, with the more even distribution in 2018.
• Note that the chart shows shares of income, not amounts of money, so a smaller percentage does not necessarily mean families spent less in absolute terms.

Band 8+ model answer

196 words · An original model answer written for ieltswrites, not an official answer. It stays in English, as in the exam.

Why this answer scores highly

Task Achievement

The answer gives a clear overview of the shift in spending patterns and the change in the largest category, then supports it with accurate figures for every significant change, including the one category that stayed the same.

Coherence and Cohesion

Categories are grouped logically into decreases and increases, and cohesive devices such as by contrast, as well and respectively link the comparisons without repetition.

Lexical Resource

Precise vocabulary such as basic necessities, halved, more than doubled and the largest category is used naturally, and percentage of income is paraphrased in several ways.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

The answer uses the past simple and past perfect correctly, along with relative clauses, comparative structures and the pattern from X to Y, with accurate punctuation.

Useful vocabulary

weekly income

the money a family receives each week

household expenditure

the money a family spends on goods and services

the proportion of income

the part of the total income, used to paraphrase percentage

basic necessities

things people need to live, such as food and clothing

discretionary spending

money spent on things that are wanted rather than needed, such as leisure

halve

fall to half of the previous figure

more than double

increase to over twice the previous figure

account for

make up a particular share of the total

overtake

become larger than another category

remain unchanged

stay at exactly the same level

respectively

in the same order as the items just mentioned

the largest single expense

the one category on which the most money was spent

a marginal decline

a very small fall

Common mistakes

• Writing that families spent less money on food in 2018, when the chart shows a smaller percentage of income, not a smaller amount of money.
• Describing all eight categories one by one in the order of the chart without grouping them by trend.
• Missing that household goods did not change, or that leisure became the largest category in 2018.
• Misreading bars that fall between gridlines, for example giving leisure in 2018 as 25% when it is about 22%.
• Using the present tense or future forms, when both years are in the past and the past simple is needed.
• Writing an overview that lists figures instead of describing the general shift from necessities to housing, transport and leisure.

Frequently asked questions

Which Cambridge book is this question from?

This bar chart about how families in one country spent their weekly income in 1968 and 2018 is Writing Task 1 of Test 3 in Cambridge IELTS 17 Academic, published in 2022.

How should I organise a bar chart with eight categories?

Group the categories by what happened to them: one body paragraph for the items whose share fell and another for those that rose or stayed the same. This allows you to make comparisons instead of listing figures.

Do I need to mention every category?

You should cover the main changes, but small ones such as fuel and power can be mentioned briefly. Food, leisure, housing and the unchanged household goods are the most important features.

How many words should I write for this Task 1?

Write at least 150 words; around 170-200 words is enough to give an overview and the key comparisons in about 20 minutes.