Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-15
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 5.5)
the provided bar chart and table illustrate data concerning to export incomes and percentage alteration in each category between 2015 and 2016.
Overall, over the 12-month period, while Petroleum products, engineered goods, and Textiles experienced increase, Gems and jewellery saw a drop. Additionally, Agricultural product displayed no notable changes.
Looking at the details, Petroleum products stood at just about 70 billion USD in 2015, followed by a growth of 3% in the next 12 months and reached a high of roughly 72 billion USD in 2016. Both Engineered goods and Textiles followed a similar trajectrory. Engineered goods started at rougly 65 billion USD in 2015 and resulted at about 72 billion USD in 2016, with 8,5% growth. Textiles had the most growth with 15.24%, from a low of 32 billion USD to a high of 42 billion USD. In contrast, Gems and jewellery displayed 5.18% drop, started from about 52 billion USD and finished at approximately 50 billion USD.
Regarding the Agricultural products, this category only showed a minor increases with 0.81%; having began with about 41 billions USD and resulted at about the same.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The student covers all parts of the task by reporting data from both the bar chart and the table, identifying main trends and making comparisons. An overview is present, noting that most categories increased while gems and jewellery decreased and agricultural products remained stable. However, there are notable inaccuracies in reading the specific values from the chart. For example, petroleum products in 2015 are stated as 'about 70 billion USD' when the chart shows 61, and engineered goods are listed as starting at '65 billion USD' instead of 57. While minor discrepancies are acceptable due to approximate gridlines, these deviations are quite large and misrepresent the visual data. Therefore, the task response is limited by inaccurate data reporting.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response is organised into logical paragraphs, beginning with an introduction, followed by an overview, and detailing the specific categories in subsequent paragraphs. Cohesive devices are used to guide the reader through the data, such as 'Overall', 'Looking at the details', and 'In contrast'. However, referencing and cohesion occasionally feel mechanical, and the logical flow is slightly hindered by the inaccurate data points being discussed. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction, overview, and body details, contributing to an overall coherent structure.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The student attempts a range of vocabulary appropriate for Task 1, including terms like 'export incomes', 'percentage alteration', 'trajectory', and 'low/high'. However, there are several lexical errors and awkward word choices, such as 'export incomes' instead of 'export earnings', 'percentage alteration' instead of 'percentage change', and spelling errors like 'trajectrory' and 'rougly'. While an adequate range is attempted to describe trends and figures, these recurring errors in word choice and spelling prevent the response from achieving a higher band score.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as introductory participial phrases ('Looking at the details') and subordinate clauses ('while Petroleum products... experienced increase'). There are, however, several grammatical errors throughout the text, including missing prepositions or articles ('experienced increase', 'minor increases'), incorrect punctuation with decimals ('8,5%'), and awkward verb tense/form combinations ('having began with'). Despite these errors, communication is rarely impeded, and the sentence structures demonstrate an adequate range for the task.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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