Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-21

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 illustrates the export earnings of a particular country from petrolium products, engineering goods, gems and jwellery, agricultural products and textiles, whereas the second graph shows the percentage change in each category.

Overall, the export earnings of the products increased across all the categories in one year, with engineering goods and petroleum products being the highest. On the other hand, textiles experienced significant improvement in percentage.

In 2015, petrolium products generated 60 billion dollars in revenue and it rosed to approximately 62 billion by 2016. Similarly, engineering goods climed from 55 billion to over 60 billion USD. Conversely, gems and jwellery decreased, in 2015 the figure was around 55 billion which fell to 50 billion by 2016. Textiles field saw substantial increase as well from around 35 billion to over 40 billion by 2016.

Turning to the percentage change in values, Textiles showed the biggest increase at 15.24%. Engineering goods was the second highest with

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

The response identifies the chart’s subject and gives an overview, but several central figures and trends are misreported, which substantially limits how accurately it summarises the data. Gems and jewellery earned about $43 billion in 2015 and $41 billion in 2016, not around $55 billion and $50 billion; textiles were about $26 billion and $31 billion, not $35 billion and over $40 billion. The overview also says earnings increased in every category, although gems and jewellery declined and agricultural products were broadly stable. You correctly identify textiles as having the largest percentage rise and petroleum and engineered goods as the leading earners. To improve, check each category against the chart and report the remaining percentage changes, rather than ending the comparison of engineered goods mid-sentence.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, a paragraph describing earnings, and a final paragraph beginning the percentage comparison. Linking expressions such as “Overall,” “Similarly,” “Conversely,” and “Turning to” help signal the relationships between points. However, the final paragraph stops after “Engineering goods was the second highest with,” leaving the comparison incomplete and weakening the progression. The overview also groups all categories as increasing, then later describes a decline, so the organisation does not consistently guide the reader through the main trends. Complete the final comparison and group the figures by clear patterns—for example, rising categories, the decline in gems, and the stable agricultural figure.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

There is an adequate range of task-related vocabulary, including “export earnings,” “generated,” “revenue,” “percentage change,” and “substantial increase.” These choices make the topic clear, and “Conversely” helps express contrast. Some spelling and word-choice errors reduce precision, however: “petrolium” and “jwellery” are misspelled, while “engineering goods” does not match the chart’s label, “engineered goods.” “Textiles field” is also an awkward collocation, and “percentage change in values” could be used more consistently to describe the table. Aim for accurate spelling of category names and conventional chart language such as “rose,” “fell,” “remained stable,” and “accounted for.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The response uses a mix of simple and more complex sentence forms, including a contrast clause in “whereas the second graph shows…” and a comparison introduced by “Similarly.” Most sentences remain understandable, and errors do not generally prevent the reader from following the intended meaning. Some grammatical problems are nevertheless noticeable. In “it rosed,” the past form should be “it rose”; “engineering goods was” needs plural agreement (“goods were”); and the sentence beginning “Conversely, gems and jwellery decreased, in 2015…” joins two independent clauses with only a comma. Use a full stop or a conjunction there. Check verb forms, agreement, and punctuation, while continuing to vary sentence structures.

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