Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-08-30

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 table illustrates a country's various industry's export amounts in dollars and their percentage change for the year 2015 to 2016. Other than Gems and jewellery, all other categories experience a rise in their export amounts in 2016 with Textiles showing the greatest improvement and Petroleum products showing the lowest.

Petroleum products and Engineered goods, overall, boasts the highest contribution to export amounts with values of approximately 60% in 2015 and 62% in 2016 and 56% in 2015 and 62% in 2016 for Engineered goods. While, Textile and Agricultural products boosts the lowest with values of 30%-32% and 26%-32% for Textiles.

Additionally, Textiles saw the highest increase in export amount of about 15.24% whereas Agricultural products demonstrated the slowest growth of around 3%. Engineered goods observed steady growth of about 8.5%. Moreover, Gems and jewellery sector was the only category that declined by about 5.18%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 150 words, which negatively impacts the score. While you have identified the main features and included data, the analysis is somewhat confusing. For instance, the description of the export values for 'Engineered goods' and 'Textiles' is unclear and mathematically difficult to follow. You have successfully highlighted the main trends, such as the growth in most sectors and the decline in Gems and jewellery, but the lack of clarity in presenting the data and the failure to meet the length requirement prevent a higher score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into logical paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. You use some cohesive devices like 'Additionally' and 'Moreover' to link ideas. However, the progression of information within the second paragraph is disjointed, particularly when discussing the export percentages. The referencing is sometimes unclear, making it difficult to distinguish between the categories and their respective values. Improving the flow between sentences and ensuring that data points are clearly linked to their categories would significantly enhance the coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You have used a range of vocabulary appropriate for a report, such as 'illustrates', 'contribution', and 'demonstrated'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'boosts the lowest' (should be 'accounted for the lowest') and 'industry's export amounts' (should be 'industries' export amounts'). While the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the main points, it lacks the precision and flexibility required for higher bands. Focusing on using more accurate collocations related to data reporting would be beneficial.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('Petroleum products and Engineered goods... boasts') and awkward phrasing in the second paragraph. Punctuation is generally acceptable, but the sentence structure in the second paragraph is convoluted, which hinders clarity. To improve, you should focus on ensuring subject-verb agreement and refining the structure of complex sentences to ensure they are error-free and clearly communicate the intended meaning.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.