Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-03

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 graph illustrates the exports of a nation in different product categories in 2015 and 2016, while the table demonstrates the changes in the export's percentage from 2015 to 2016.

Overall, the highest earning from petroleum and engineered products over the period. In contrast, all variety of products experienced an increasing trend except gems and jewellery.

In the bar graph, in 2015, the earning of petroleum products accounted for around 60 billion, which increased slightly in 2016. Moreover, engineered goods earned 57 billion in 2015, then went up to almost 60 billion in 2016. Besides this, the export earnings of gems and jewellery constituted 41 billion in 2015, which was declined minimally in 2016 and stood at around 39 billion. Additionally, the export of agricultural products reported almost same in both years. Meanwhile, the earning of textiles surged from 35 billion to 41 billion.

In the table, the percentage change in export values, petroleum products, engineered goods, agricultural products and textiles climbed in 2016, by 3%, 8.5%, 0.81% and 15.24%, respectively, whereas gems and jewellery faced downfall by 5.18% in 2016.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response successfully addresses all parts of the task by providing an overview and reporting the main features of the visual data. The introduction accurately paraphrases the prompt, and the overview highlights the main general trends. Key data points from both the bar graph and the table are selected and reported. However, some aspects are less fully developed or contain inaccuracies when compared against the source data. For example, the overview sentence "Overall, the highest earning from petroleum and engineered products over the period" is grammatically incomplete and lacks full development. Furthermore, some figures reported in the body paragraphs, such as the text earnings surging to 41 billion or the gems and jewellery figures, do not entirely match the chart data, placing the response in the mid-range of task achievement.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear logical progression from the introduction to the overview, body paragraphs, and finally the table details. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different parts of the visual data. Cohesive devices are employed to link ideas, such as "In contrast," "Moreover," and "Additionally." However, cohesion can sometimes feel mechanical or slightly repetitive in structure. Referencing and logical transitions between sentences occasionally falter, such as the abrupt shift in the overview and some minor awkwardness in linking the bar graph data to the table data. Overall, the organization is clear enough to guide the reader through the data smoothly.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms related to data trends and economic categories, such as "illustrates," "demonstrates," "category," and "percentage change." There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, such as "surged" and "downfall," though some word choices and collocations are slightly imprecise or inaccurate, such as "the highest earning from" instead of earnings generated by, or "was declined minimally" instead of declined minimally. Spelling is generally accurate, and vocabulary errors do not impede communication, allowing the response to secure a solid mid-level score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and introductory prepositional phrases. There are several error-free sentences, particularly when reporting statistics from the table. However, some grammatical errors and awkward phrasing persist, such as the incomplete sentence in the overview ("Overall, the highest earning from...") and minor preposition or article slips like "reported almost same" instead of reported almost the same, or "facing downfall" instead of facing a downfall. Punctuation is generally functional. These errors rarely impede communication and reflect a typical mixed profile of simple and complex structures.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.