The chart below shows the number of households in the US by their annual income in 2007, 2011 and 2015.
This response is estimated at Band 6.5. Can you write a better one?
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Sample Response
The bar chartcharts presents the number of households in the US across different annual income groups in 2007, 2011 and 2015.
Overall, households earning between 50000 and 74999 and those earning between 75000 and 99999 were consistently the two smallest income groups. Households earning over $100,000 wereover 100000 were the largest groupgroups except in 2011.
The number of households earning between 75000 and 99999 waswere the smallest income group across all three yearsthroughout three different years. This figure plateauedplatuaed between approximately 13 million and 15 million13 millions and 15 millions . Households earning between 50000 and 74999 were always the second smallestsmallst income group, remaining at around 21 millionremaining its number at around 21 millions.
The number of households earning over 100000 changed noticeablyfluctuated dramatically during the period. This figure fell from about 30 million to about 27 million30 millions to about 25 millions between 2007 and 2011 before rebounding to its peak of approximately 33 millionmillions in 2015. The number of households earning under $25,000below 25000 and those earning between 25000 and 49999 had almost the same trend. Both figures had a significant increase from 2007 to 2011, reaching about 28 million and 30 million28 millions and 30 millions respectively before decreasing slightly to about 25 millions and 27 million27millions respectively. Those two figures overtook the number of households earning over 100000 in 2011.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The essay effectively identifies the main features and trends across the three years, providing a clear overview and appropriate data comparisons. However, minor language inaccuracies, such as subject-verb agreement errors and pluralization mistakes with numerical figures, detract from the clarity. To improve, focus on eliminating basic grammatical slips and refining number phrases for higher precision.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The response covers all key income categories accurately and presents a clear general overview of the trends across the specified years.
Avoid dramatic trend verbs like 'fluctuated' when describing data across only three distinct static time points.
Coherence and Cohesion
The information is organized logically into distinct paragraphs with clear progression throughout the report.
Vary sentence openings to avoid overusing repetitive phrasing such as 'The number of households earning'.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary shows a good attempt at varied reporting language, though spelling and count noun errors occur.
Ensure correct word formation by using 'million' rather than 'millions' following specific numbers.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of simple and complex sentence structures is used, but subject-verb agreement and preposition errors are noticeable.
Pay close attention to subject-verb agreement when using collective subjects like 'the number of households'.