Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-10-03

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)

This bar chart illustrates the top ten countries for the production and consumption of electricity in 2014. The light grey bar shows consumption measured in billion kWh while the dark grey bar shows production in billion kWh.The bar chart is made rankwise with highest production and consumption of electricity on the top while the lowest at the bottom in 2014. The countries include China, United States, Russia, Japan, India, Canada, France, Brazil, Germany and Korea Republic.China is on the top of the list with 5398 billion kWh production of electricity while its consumtption in the same year in 2014 was 5322 kWh.The Korean Republic is at the bottom in terms of production 485.1 kWh and consumption 449.5kWh in the same year as compared to other countries. The interesting fact is that all the countries has highest production than its consumption except Germany which has 526.6 kWh production while its consumption was 582.5kWh in 2014.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response sits at this level because it addresses the task only partially, and the length requirement is not met, as the response contains 141 words, which is nine words short of the 150-word minimum (with 13 words copied from the task prompt not counted). While the student correctly identifies the chart's general topic and highlights a few key data points—such as China ranking at the top and the Republic of Korea at the bottom—the selection of information is limited and under-developed. Furthermore, there are several inaccurate data citations; for instance, the student states that China's consumption was '5322 kWh' rather than billion kWh, and makes a similar omission for South Korea. The overview lacks clarity regarding broader trends across the ten countries, preventing the response from achieving a higher grade.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

Cohesion and logical progression are hindered by mechanical and repetitive structuring throughout the text. The response lacks proper paragraphing, presented instead as a single block of text, which makes the overall arrangement difficult to follow. While basic cohesive devices and referencing are attempted, they are often used inadequately or clumsily, such as repetitive transitions like 'in the same year in 2014'. Information is not arranged with a clear overarching progression from overview to specific details. To reach a higher standard, the writer needs to divide the text into logical paragraphs—separating the overview from body details—and employ a wider variety of cohesive devices to smoothly link comparisons and contrasts between countries.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate to convey the basic message of the prompt. The student attempts some less common vocabulary items related to the topic, such as 'production', 'consumption', and 'illustrates', but these are accompanied by noticeable errors in word form, omission of units, and collocation. For example, writing '5322 kWh' instead of billion kWh demonstrates imprecise reporting of data units, and phrases like 'made rankwise' are unnatural. Spelling is generally acceptable, but vocabulary limitations and occasional word-choice errors cause some difficulty for the reader. Incorporating a more precise and varied lexicon regarding data trends would elevate this criterion.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The grammar demonstrates a limited range of sentence structures, relying heavily on simple or awkwardly concatenated clauses. Attempts at more complex sentences often become faulty, such as 'The interesting fact is that all the countries has highest production than its consumption', which contains subject-verb agreement errors ('countries has') and comparative errors ('highest production than'). There are frequent errors in prepositions, plurals, and determiners, such as missing articles and incorrect singular/plural matching like 'all the countries has highest production'. Punctuation is also basic and occasionally restrictive. To improve, the student must exercise greater control over basic grammatical agreement, utilize complex structures accurately, and refine prepositional and comparative phrasing.

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

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