Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-09

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 compares the electricity production alongwith its consumption in billion kWh in ten different countries from the world during the year 2014.

Overall, there is a variation in electricity production and consumption with having a highest value for China anfd the lowest record for Korea. All the other countries lie in between these two with a considerable range.

The bar graphclearly illustrates that China and United States are the countries with the most energy production and consumption followed by the other countries like Russia, Japan, India, Canada and France showing a rapid fall of trend from several thousands to only a few hundreds. Brazil and Germany are almost at the same pace with a gradual decrease. The last one, Korea is lagging behind in this chart with the least electricity production and usage. Moreover, the bar graph depicts that no country has exceeded the energy usage limit than its production except Germany, where people are using electricity more than its production.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers the main features of the bar chart, identifying the top producers and consumers and noting the exception of Germany. However, the report lacks specific data points. To achieve a higher band, you must include actual figures from the chart (e.g., 'China produced approximately 5,400 billion kWh'). Relying on qualitative descriptions like 'several thousands' or 'a few hundreds' is too vague for an Academic Task 1 response, which requires precise reporting of data. While the overview is present, the lack of specific evidence prevents a more detailed analysis of the trends.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into an introduction, an overview, and a body paragraph. The progression of ideas is generally logical, moving from the highest producers to the lowest. Cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'Moreover', and 'followed by' are used to link sentences. However, the paragraphing is slightly unbalanced, with a very short overview paragraph. Additionally, some transitions feel a bit mechanical. Improving the flow between the comparison of countries and the specific observation about Germany would enhance the overall coherence of the response.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'production', 'consumption', 'variation', and 'exceeded'. However, there are some minor errors in word choice and spelling, such as 'anfd' (typo) and 'alongwith' (should be 'along with'). The phrasing 'at the same pace' is slightly imprecise in this context. To reach a higher band, try to incorporate more varied and precise collocations related to data interpretation, such as 'surpassed', 'marginal difference', or 'a significant disparity'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are some grammatical inaccuracies, such as 'with having a highest value' (should be 'with the highest value') and 'no country has exceeded the energy usage limit than its production' (should be 'exceeded its production'). Punctuation is generally functional, but there are minor slips in sentence construction. While these errors do not impede communication, they indicate a need for more careful proofreading to ensure subject-verb agreement and correct preposition usage.

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

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