Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-22

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 4.0)

The given bar chart illustrates the value of one country's exports in various categories during 2015 and 2016.

There are five categories i.e; petroleum products, engineered goods, gems and jewellery, agricultural products and textiles.

The very first category is petroleum products in 2015, the value of petroluem products is 62 billion ions whereas in 2016, 68 billion ions are spent on petroleum products. The second category is engineered goods in 2015, 60 billion dollars . The third category is gems and jewellery, in 2015, 51 billion ions are spent on gems and jewellery whereas in 2016, 51 dollars billion ions whereas in 2016, 48 billion ions are spent on gems and jewellery.

There are some percentage change in values in [redacted phone].

The first category is petroleum products it is increased by 8.5%

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.0

The response identifies the chart’s subject and names all five export categories, but it does not provide a clear overview of the main trends or adequately summarise the data. Several figures are substantially inaccurate: petroleum is reported as 62 and 68 billion, rather than approximately 61 and 63, while gems are given as 51 and 48 rather than about 43 and 41. The final claim that petroleum increased by 8.5% also assigns engineered goods’ percentage to the wrong category; petroleum’s change is 3%. Most categories are not described, and the response is below the required 150 words (124 words; eight copied prompt words are excluded). To improve, include an accurate overview, compare the largest and smallest values and key changes, and cover all categories.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

There is a basic attempt to organise information, beginning with an introduction and then moving through categories, with sequence markers such as “The very first category” and “The second category.” However, the response does not develop into a coherent summary: the discussion stops after petroleum, and the separate sentence about percentage changes is not followed by a systematic account. The repeated category-by-category openings make progression mechanical, while the long, confusing sentence about gems repeats information and is difficult to follow. Paragraphing is also not used to distinguish an overview from supporting details. A clearer structure would use an introduction, a concise overview of the main trends, and one or two paragraphs comparing related categories.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

The response uses some relevant task vocabulary, including “exports,” “categories,” “percentage change,” and “increased,” and the category names are generally recognisable. However, the range is limited and several word choices or spelling errors reduce precision. “Petroluem” is misspelled, and “billion ions” appears repeatedly where the intended unit is “billion dollars” or “$ billion.” The phrase “are spent on petroleum products” is also unsuitable because the chart reports export earnings, not expenditure. Repetition of “category” and “products” further limits flexibility. Use accurate terms for values and trends, and vary reporting verbs—for example, “stood at,” “rose to,” and “declined to”—while checking spelling and units.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The response shows some control of basic sentence forms, including the opening sentence, “The given bar chart illustrates…,” and the simple statement that there are five categories. However, sentence structures are mostly basic, and punctuation and sentence boundaries are inconsistent. For example, “The second category is engineered goods in 2015, 60 billion dollars” is a fragment, while the sentence about gems joins several statements with commas and repeats “whereas in 2016,” making the relationships unclear. The phrase “There are some percentage change” also has an agreement error. Aim to write complete, controlled comparisons, such as “Engineered goods rose from about $57 billion in 2015 to $62 billion in 2016,” and use full stops to separate distinct data points.

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