Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-22
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 shows the value of a country's exports in five product categories: petroleum, engineered goods, gems and jewellery, agriculturural products and textile during years 2015 and 2016. The given table illustrates the percentage change in the given categories of exports in 2016 compared with 2015.
Overall petroleum products generated highest revenue from exports which is 60 billion US dollars in 2015 and 61 billion dollars in 2016, followed by engineered goods. While 3 percent increase can be seen in the export of petroleum products and 8.5 % in engineered goods. There is 5.81% drop in the export of gems and jewellery which was around 43 billion US dollars in 2015 and 40 billion in 2016.
Slight increase of 0.81 % can be observed in agricultural products, from 31 billion dollars in 2015 to 32 billion dollars. The textiles industry shows the highest percentage of change in value which is 15.24% rise in exports, initially at about 26 billion to 32 billion dollars. Overall there is an increase in the exports except gems and jewellery industry.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The student successfully covers all key parts of the task by reporting the main features from both the bar chart and the table. An overview is provided at the beginning and end of the response, noting that petroleum generated the highest revenue and that overall most categories experienced growth except for gems and jewellery. Key data points are cited, such as petroleum at 60 billion in 2015 and the 15.24% rise in textiles. However, there are minor inaccuracies in reading the specific bar chart values (e.g. stating petroleum was 60 billion when the chart shows 61, and gems and jewellery dropped to 40 instead of 41), which prevents it from reaching a higher band. Nevertheless, the main trends and comparisons are clearly articulated.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response is arranged coherently with a logical progression of ideas. It opens with an appropriate introduction paraphrasing the prompt, moves into body paragraphs detailing individual categories, and concludes with a summary statement. Cohesive devices are used to link ideas, such as "while", "followed by", and "overall". However, paragraphing is somewhat compressed, with multiple categories crammed into single blocks rather than being separated into distinct thematic paragraphs for the chart data and table data. Referencing is generally clear, though paragraph transitions could be smoother to achieve a higher band.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, successfully incorporating terms like "revenue", "percentage change", "industry", and "drop". There are some minor spelling and lexical slips, such as "agriculturural" (misspelling of agricultural) and awkward phrasing like "generated highest revenue" (missing an article). Less common items are attempted with reasonable success, though vocabulary is at times repetitive or restricted to basic descriptive terms. Overall, the lexical range is sufficient to communicate the information clearly despite minor inaccuracies.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, incorporating relative clauses and participial phrases (e.g. "which is 60 billion US dollars", "followed by engineered goods"). There are several grammatical errors and punctuation omissions throughout the text, such as missing articles ("generated highest revenue"), incorrect prepositions or conjunctions ("during years 2015 and 2016"), and minor run-on structures. Despite these errors, meaning is rarely impeded, and the majority of simple sentences are constructed accurately, supporting a solid Band 6 performance.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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