Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-10-01

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 6.0)

The bar chart illustrates the ranking of countries by their production and consumption of electricity in the year 2014.

Overall, both the China and the United States are leading the charts with their electricity consumption and production, compared to other countries which have significantly less numbers. With the exception of germany all other countries have more production rather than consumption.

In the year 2014, China consumed the most electricity, 5398 billion kWh compared to the US, in second place, at 4099 billion kWh. Their consumption are 5322 billion kWh and 3866 billion kWh respectively.

All other countries are lagging behind in the electricity consumption and its subsequent production, russia has slightly above 1000 billion kWh in both these categories, while Japan and India have similar numbers at nearly 900 and 800 billion kWh across both the categories. In addition, Canada, France, Brazil and Korea, Rep. have similar data, ranging from 618.9 to 449.5 billion kWh. On the contrary, Germany is the only country in the list, having increased demand rather than supply, it consumes 582.5 billion kWh of electricity, however, it generates only 526.6 billon kWh.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by selecting and reporting the main features of the chart, providing a clear overview, and making relevant comparisons. For instance, the writer correctly identifies China and the United States as the leading countries in both production and consumption. However, there are some inaccuracies in reporting the data: the writer reverses the production and consumption figures for China in the third paragraph, stating that China consumed 5,398 billion kWh when that figure actually represents production. Additionally, some ideas are slightly under-developed or general, such as grouping several countries together without detailing their individual differences. Overall, the information is generally relevant, but data precision requires closer attention to lift the response further.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, an overview paragraph, and body paragraphs that group data logically. The progression of ideas is generally easy to follow, moving from the top two countries to the rest of the list. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. For example, the transition phrases used to introduce remaining countries, such as 'All other countries are lagging behind' and 'On the contrary, Germany is the only country', create a slightly choppy flow. Referencing is also occasionally unclear, such as pronoun use and comma splices that disrupt sentence boundaries. Paragraphing is used, but internal cohesive devices could be managed more flexibly to ensure smoother transitions between sentences and ideas.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms related to data presentation such as 'production', 'consumption', 'ranking', and 'generates'. There are successful attempts to use less common vocabulary items like 'subsequent production' and 'increased demand rather than supply'. However, there are noticeable inaccuracies in word choice and phrasing, such as 'significantly less numbers' instead of 'significantly lower figures', and minor data confusion where production and consumption labels are mixed up. Spelling and word formation are generally accurate, and vocabulary errors do not impede overall communication, but greater precision and lexical variety are needed to achieve a higher level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating comparative structures and introductory clauses such as 'With the exception of germany all other countries have more production rather than consumption.' There are some errors in grammar and punctuation, including missing capitalisation ('germany', 'russia'), comma splices ('...categories, while Russia has...', '...demand rather than supply, it consumes...'), and occasional awkward phrasing like 'Their consumption are 5,398 billion kWh' where subject-verb agreement is incorrect. Despite these errors, the structures used do not impede communication, and the majority of simple sentences are constructed accurately. To improve, the student needs to exercise tighter control over punctuation, capitalization, and subject-verb agreement in complex sentences.

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