Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-08-25

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The bar chart below shows the top ten countries for the production and consumption of electricity in 2014.

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The bar chart demonstrates the best ten countries for both production and consumption of electricity.

Overall, China and United States remained top in production and consumption stage having highest electricity in kWh. While, Germany and Korea were the least in terms of electricity.

In 2014, the electricity of India accounts for 871 in production and 698.8 in consumption whereas, Korea is the lowest with 485.1 and 449.5 in production and consumption of electricity in the year 2014. meanwhile, Canada ranks at number 6 showing 618.9 kWh in production and 499.9 kWh in consumption. In contrast, China is the largest country to consume production and consumption both with 5,398 and 5,322 kWh of current in the year 2014 while, United States ranked at number 2 containing 4,099 of production and 3,866 with consumption in 2014, and Russia is the third highest country in the basis of consumption and production representing 1,057 and 1,038.

To sum up, China and United states were the top 2 countries in consumption of electricity, while Korea and Germany were the last ones among all countries.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers the main features of the bar chart, including the top and bottom countries. However, the overview is slightly weak as it does not clearly highlight the significant gap between the top two countries (China and the US) and the rest of the list. While the data is generally accurate, the presentation is somewhat list-like, and the comparison between countries could be more analytical. The inclusion of specific figures is good, but the grouping of information lacks a clear logical flow, making it difficult to identify the overall trends at a glance.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is organized into paragraphs, but the logical progression is hindered by repetitive sentence structures and awkward transitions. For example, the use of 'meanwhile' and 'in contrast' is somewhat mechanical and does not always effectively link the ideas. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the phrase 'consume production and consumption', which is confusing. While the essay is coherent overall, the lack of varied cohesive devices and the somewhat disjointed flow between sentences limit the score to a 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks precision and variety. There are several instances of awkward word choices, such as 'best ten countries' (should be 'top ten') and 'consume production and consumption', which is semantically incorrect. The student relies on basic terminology like 'highest', 'lowest', and 'ranked'. To achieve a higher band, the student should incorporate more precise academic vocabulary related to data description, such as 'surpassed', 'accounted for', 'marginal', or 'significant disparity'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation. For instance, 'China and United States remained top in production and consumption stage' lacks necessary articles. There are also issues with comma usage, such as 'While, Germany and Korea', where the comma is unnecessary. Subject-verb agreement and preposition usage are inconsistent throughout the text. While these errors do not impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score.

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

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