Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-14

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

below shows the value of one country’s exports in various categories during 2015 and 2016. The table shows the percentage change in each category of exports in 2016 compared with 2015.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Student answer (Band 6.5)

The bar chart illustrates earnings from five categories of exported products and goods in a particular country between 2015 and 2016 while the tables compares the percentage change of each value made from this exported products from 2015 to 2016. Figures in the bar chart are presented in billions dollar.

Overall, it is evident that petroleum products, engineered goos and textiles increased significantly in values whereas gems and jewellery with textiles declined over the period. However, textiles had the largest percentage share among all categories and gems and jewerllery dropped relatively.

Regarding the export earnings in 2015 and 2016, petroleum products stood at $60 billion in 2015, followed by engineered goods at roughly $57 billion and gems and jewellery around $43 billion. Meanwhile, agricultural products and textiles reported a figure at approximately $30 billion and $28 billion in 2015. In 2016, petroleum product, engineered goods and textiles experienced a substantial growth in value at roughly $68 billion, $67 billion and $32 billion respectively. Converesly, agricultural product increased slightly to $32 billion sharing similar value with textiles and gems and jewellery dipped relatively to $40 billion.

Turning to the percentage change in values, textiles had the highest percentage share at 15.24%, followed by engineered goods at 8.5% and petroleum products at 3%. Similarly, Agricultural products increased in rate to 0.81% whereas gems and jewellery declined in percentage rate to 5.18%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The student successfully covers all parts of the task by reporting the main features of both the export earnings and the percentage change categories. The response provides a clear overview and makes relevant comparisons throughout, such as noting that petroleum products, engineered goods, and textiles increased significantly in value. Key data points, such as petroleum products standing at $60 billion in 2015 and reaching roughly $68 billion in 2016, are accurately cited and integrated into the text. The comparisons between categories are well-selected and fulfill the requirements of Academic Task 1 effectively without unnecessary digression. The response demonstrates a clear understanding of the visual data provided, earning a solid band score for this criterion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The response is organized into four distinct paragraphs, presenting a logical overall progression from an introduction and overview to specific body paragraphs detailing export earnings and percentage changes. Cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'Regarding', 'Meanwhile', 'Conversely', and 'Turning to' are used to guide the reader through the data. However, there are minor issues with referencing and cohesion; for instance, the student repeats 'textiles' confusingly in the second sentence of the overview ('whereas gems and jewellery with textiles declined'), and paragraphing is slightly disjointed where data categories overlap. Nonetheless, the overall structure remains clear and easy to follow, supporting a coherent presentation of information.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for an Academic Task 1 response, incorporating terms such as 'export earnings', 'substantial growth', 'percentage share', and 'dipped relatively'. There are, however, several lexical errors and typos, including 'goos' instead of 'goods', 'jewerllery' instead of 'jewellery', and 'billion dollar' instead of 'billion dollars'. While the writer attempts less common vocabulary and demonstrates sufficient flexibility to convey the main trends, these recurring mechanical and spelling errors prevent the lexical score from reaching higher bands. Communication is not significantly impeded, but precision is occasionally compromised.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

The writer employs a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, utilizing subordinate clauses and participial phrases effectively (e.g., 'while the tables compares the percentage change...'). There are, however, noticeable grammatical inaccuracies throughout the text. Examples include subject-verb agreement errors like 'the tables compares' instead of 'compare', and prepositional or morphological slips such as 'increased in rate to 0.81%' rather than 'increased by'. Despite these persistent errors, the sentence structures remain varied, and the majority of complex forms are understandable without causing severe difficulty for the reader, aligning well with the descriptors for a band 6.5 performance.

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