Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-20

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 bar chart compares the amount of money earned by a country in five different product category including petroleum products, engineered goods, gems and jewellery, agricultural products , and textiles from 2015 to 2016.

Overall, petroleum products and the engineered goods are the most popular export in two years. However, textiles and the agricultural products remained relatively less in terms of export.

In 2016, the petroleum products was the most successful items which earned about 64 billion$, while this figure was sligthtly below in 2015 which was just above 60 billion$. The engineering products were the similar figure as petroleum products in 2016 but , in 2015 it gradually dropped to around 59 billion$.

The gems and jewellary were around 54 billion$ in 2015, however, in the following year the figure was decline to about 50 billion$.

In case of agricultural producrts which remained almost same in both years and accounts for about 40 billion$. Textiles were the lowest figure throughout the period and earned less which was 35 billion in 2015 while it was slightly rised to about 41 billion$.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the chart’s subject and provide an overview, noting that petroleum and engineered goods are the leading categories and that textiles and agriculture are lower. However, several key figures and comparisons do not match the visual: gems and jewellery are about $43 billion in 2015 and $41 billion in 2016, not $54 billion and $50 billion; agriculture is about $31 billion, not $40 billion; and textiles rise from about $26 billion to $31 billion, rather than $35 billion to $41 billion. The overview also calls textiles and agriculture relatively low without highlighting that textiles show the largest increase, while gems are the only category to fall. More accurate reporting of the main trends and figures is needed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, an overview, and paragraphs describing the figures. This makes the information reasonably easy to follow. You also use linking expressions such as “Overall,” “However,” and “In case of” to connect points. At times, though, the progression within the detail paragraphs is less controlled: the final paragraph moves from gems to agriculture and then textiles without a clear comparison or consistent grouping. Some transitions, including “however” between the gems figures, are understandable but do not always make the relationship between the data especially precise. Grouping categories by whether they rose or fell, and using clearer comparisons between years, would make the organisation more effective.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “bar chart,” “export,” “earned,” and “figure,” and the reader can generally understand the intended comparisons. However, the range is somewhat limited and several word-choice or spelling problems reduce precision. “Most popular export” is not the best description of the highest earnings, and “the engineering products” is inconsistent with the chart’s category, “engineered goods.” There are also noticeable forms such as “sligthtly,” “jewellary,” and “producrts.” Phrases such as “earned less” and “the lowest figure” are vague when describing values. Aim for accurate category names and more precise reporting language, such as “generated export revenue” and “recorded the lowest value.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a contrast with “while” and a clause beginning “which remained almost same.” The overall meaning is usually recoverable, but errors in agreement, articles, verb forms, and sentence construction occur across the response. For example, “the petroleum products was” should use a plural verb, while “the figure was decline” needs a correct past-tense form. In “the agricultural products remained relatively less,” the comparison is not grammatically complete. Punctuation and spacing are also inconsistent, as in “but ,” and “billion$.” Practise building accurate comparison sentences with clear subjects and verbs, while retaining the range of sentence forms you are attempting.

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