Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-08-11

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The chart 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 5.5)

The chart describes the comparison of five export categories of a country between 2015 and 2016 and the table illustrates the percentage volume of each category.

Overall, all categories were increased the export rate in 2016.However, petroleum products were at the top over the period but textiles were at least compare to others. In contrast the percentage of textiles were increased sharply in 2016.

Petroleum products had a slight increase in export with 3% only from 2015 to 2016. Whereas, textiles were sharply rose to 15.24%. However, petroleum products remained popular in export with 60 to 62 billion dollars share. Engineer goods were at the second place with 58 billion dollar export rate which increased 8.5% in one year to 61 billion dollar. Gems and jewellry lowered the export rate to 5.18% and remained at the third number. Agricultural products were almost same whole the period there were a slight increased of 0.81%. Textiles were at the end with 23 billion dollars export in 2015 but it had a significant from 23 to 31 billion dollar which is highest percentage.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers all parts of the task by identifying the main features and comparing the categories. However, there are inaccuracies in the data interpretation. For instance, you state that 'Gems and jewellery lowered the export rate to 5.18%', whereas the table indicates a percentage change of -5.18%. Additionally, the claim that 'all categories were increased' is contradicted by the negative value for gems and jewellery. To improve, ensure that you accurately distinguish between the total value (billions) and the percentage change, and carefully check the data for negative trends.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into a logical structure with an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs. Cohesive devices such as 'In contrast', 'Whereas', and 'However' are used to link ideas. However, the flow is occasionally disrupted by awkward phrasing, such as 'textiles were at least compare to others'. Paragraphing is present, but the transition between the overview and the body could be smoother. The use of referencing is generally clear, but some sentences feel disjointed due to grammatical errors.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task, using terms like 'export categories', 'percentage volume', and 'significant'. However, there are several instances of imprecise word choice and collocation errors, such as 'increased the export rate' (should be 'increased their export rates') and 'at the end' (should be 'at the bottom'). Some phrasing is repetitive, and the misuse of 'lowered the export rate' instead of 'decreased' limits the precision of your report.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are frequent grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('all categories were increased the export rate') and incorrect verb forms ('textiles were sharply rose'). Punctuation is generally functional, but there are missing articles and awkward sentence constructions that occasionally impede the flow of information. To reach a higher band, focus on consistent verb tense usage and ensuring that complex sentences are constructed without basic grammatical slips.

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

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