Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-26

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 5.0)

The given bar graph shows the monetary value exports in five different categories in 2015 and 2016 of a particular country. Similarly, the table represents change in exports of each categories in 2016 compared with the year 2015.

Overall, petroleum products generated the highest export earings in both years, while textiles recorded the lowest figures. Most categories experienced a increase in exports except for gems and jewllery.

In 2015, petroleum products earned approximately $72 billion, rising to around $74 billion, increased by 3%. Similarly, exports of engineered goods has soared by 8.5%, rising from $65 billion to $70 billion in the year 2015 and 2016 respectively. Though textile has cotributed the lowest amount in export, it has recorded significant increase by 15.24%, from roughly $35 billion to $42 billion.By contrast, only gems and jwellery has experienced a downfall, decling slightly from $52 billion to $50 billion, by 5.18%.

Overall, the chart indicates a general upward trend in the country's export earnings between 2015 and 2016.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.0

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The student attempts to address all parts of the task by reporting on both the bar chart and the table. An overall trend is identified, and key categories such as petroleum products and textiles are mentioned. However, there are significant inaccuracies in the data reported. For instance, the student states that petroleum products earned approximately $72 billion in 2015, whereas the actual figure shown in the source data is 61. Similarly, figures for engineered goods and gems and jewellery deviate notably from the source chart. While the inclusion of percentages from the table demonstrates an attempt to integrate both sources, the misreading of the main chart values prevents the response from achieving a higher band.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response is structured into four paragraphs, including an introduction, two body paragraphs detailing the categories, and a concluding sentence. There is a logical attempt to group information, moving from petroleum products to engineered goods, textiles, and gems and jewellery. Cohesive devices such as 'Similarly', 'Though', and 'By contrast' are employed to link ideas. However, the cohesion feels somewhat mechanical at times, and the second concluding summary sentence feels repetitive given that an overview was already provided in the second paragraph.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range to discuss economic data and trends, using terms such as 'monetary value', 'generated', 'earings', 'soared', and 'downfall'. However, there are several spelling and word-choice errors, including 'earings' instead of 'earnings', 'jewllery' and 'jwellery' instead of 'jewellery', and 'decling' instead of 'declining'. Additionally, some collocations are slightly imprecise, such as 'experienced a increase'. Despite these errors, the language remains comprehensible.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, incorporating subordinate clauses and participle phrases like 'rising to around $74 billion, increased by 3%'. Grammatical control is variable. There are errors in verb tense and agreement, such as 'exports of engineered goods has soared' and 'textile has cotributed', where singular subjects and auxiliary verbs clash. Punctuation is generally acceptable, and while errors are present, they do not entirely impede communication.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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