Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-17

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 bar chart illustrates the export earnings of 5 industries of a country in 2015 and 2016, the units are measured in dollars, while the table demonstrates the fluctuations in export between the same preiod of time.

Overall, both the chart and the table shows the differences precisely. For exported products the most dominant sector where petroleum and engineered goods and the most significant changes in exportation were seen in textiles and gems and jewellery in 2016.

According to the chart the least exported goods were agricultural products and textiles both in 2015 and 2016 above 30 billion dollars but textile was in 2015 was somewhere the in middle between 20 to 30. Whereas, petroleum and engineered goods skyrocketed in export with earnings around and above 60 billion dollars. Finally, gems and jewellery accounted for about 40 billion and beyond.

Furthermore, the table showed a decrease in gems and jewellery exports by 5.18% in 2016, however other sectors were improved by great margins, like engineered goods by 8.5%, textiles by 15.24% and petroleum products by 3%. Though agricultural products showed less improvement but yet it was improved by 0.81%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student successfully addresses all parts of the task by reporting the main features of both the bar chart and the table. An overview is attempted in the second paragraph, identifying dominant sectors and major changes. Key data points are cited, such as the initial and final figures for petroleum products (61 and 63 billion) and engineered goods, as well as percentage changes like textiles at 15.24% and gems and jewellery at a decrease of 5.18%. However, the overview is somewhat colloquial and weak ("the chart and the table shows the differences precisely"), and there are minor inaccuracies in data interpretation, such as stating that agricultural products and textiles were both "above 30 billion dollars" in 2015 when textiles were actually 26 billion. Despite these minor lapses, the response covers the core requirements well enough to achieve a solid band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is organized into four paragraphs, moving from an introduction to an overview, followed by chart details and finally table details. Cohesive devices are used to link ideas, such as "Overall", "According to the chart", "Whereas", and "Furthermore". However, paragraphing is somewhat flawed because the body content mixes separate details awkwardly, and referencing is occasionally unclear (e.g., "textile was in 2015 was somewhere the in middle"). Cohesion can feel mechanical or slightly faulty in places due to run-on sentences and punctuation issues, such as missing commas after introductory phrases. Overall, there is a coherent arrangement of information, supporting a band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms related to graphical data and economics, such as "export earnings", "fluctuations", "dominant sector", and "percentage change". Less common items are attempted, including words like "skyrocketed" and "accounted for". However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as "preiod" (misspelling of period), "where petroleum and engineered goods" (grammatically awkward), and "were improved by great margins" (unnatural collocation for statistical data). While these errors do not impede communication, they restrict the lexical score to a 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence forms. The student attempts complex structures using relative clauses and conjunctions, such as "The bar chart illustrates the export earnings of 5 industries of a country in 2015 and 2016, the units are measured in dollars..." (which results in a comma splice). There are several grammatical errors and punctuation lapses throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ("the chart and the table shows"), missing articles ("textile was in 2015"), and run-on sentences. Despite these frequent errors, the meaning remains mostly clear to the reader, aligning well with the descriptors for band 5.5.

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

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