Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-23
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 6.0)
The bar graph compares the value of export revenue for a country from five product categories, namely Petroleum products, Engineering goods, Gems and jewellery, Agricultural products and Textiles from 2015 to 2016.
Overall, Petroleum products accounted for the highest share value, while Textiles accounted the lowest share value.In contrast, most of the products experienced an increase in value, while Gems and jewellery experienced a slight decrease.
Looking at the detailed figures, Petroleum products dominates the export earnings, which constituted around 65 billion dollars in 2015, rose by 3% reaching around 67 billion dollars in 2016. Engineering goods were the second-largest category, constituting just below 60 billion dollars in 2015 and going up to around 66 billion dollars in 2016. In contrast, Gems and jewellery ranks third in value accounting just over 42 billion dollars in 2015, but witnessed 5.18% decline in value in 2016.
Turning to the remaining products, Agricultural and textiles were the categories with the lowest revenue. Accounting for around 41 billion dollar and 36 billion dollars in 2015, their value rose by 0.81% and 15.24% reaching 42 and 41 billion dollars in 2016.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 6.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The student covers all parts of the task well, providing an overview of the main trends and selecting key data to report and compare. The categories are properly identified, and overall trends like the dominance of petroleum products and the decrease in gems and jewellery are correctly noted. However, there are some data inaccuracies when reporting specific figures from the chart, particularly in the final paragraph where the baseline values for agricultural products and textiles in 2015 are misread significantly (reporting 41 and 36 billion instead of approximately 31 and 26 billion). Despite these data misreadings, the overall selection of features and comparisons satisfies the requirements of the prompt, demonstrating a clear attempt to summarise the mixed charts.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5
The response is logically organised into four paragraphs, beginning with a clear introduction, followed by an overall summary, and two body paragraphs detailing specific categories. Cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'In contrast', 'Looking at the detailed figures', and 'Turning to the remaining products' are used to guide the reader through the data. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different sections of the visual information. Although referencing and sequencing are generally clear, some minor issues in linking data points prevent a higher band.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for an academic task 1 response, employing terms such as 'accounted for', 'share value', 'dominates', and 'export earnings'. There are some successful attempts to use less common vocabulary and precise percentages provided in the table. However, there are a few word choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as 'share value' instead of 'share' or 'value', and some confusion in phrasing. Spelling is generally accurate throughout the response.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, incorporating participial phrases ('constituting around 65 billion dollars in 2015') and comparative clauses. There is good control over basic grammar, and punctuation is handled reasonably well. However, some grammatical errors and awkward phrasing occur, such as 'Textiles accounted the lowest share value' (missing preposition 'for') and minor subject-verb agreement or tense inconsistencies in complex constructions. These errors do not impede communication, but they restrict the score to a solid band 6.
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