Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-25
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 earnings in exports of a country in different categories between 2015 to 2016. In contrast, the table shows the percentage change in values of exports in 2015 as compared to 2016.
Overall, it can be clearly seen that the revenue of petroleum and engineered products was maximum and the revenue of textiles and agricultural products was minimum in the bar chart after a period of change. While in the table, textiles gained the highest percentage change and agricultural products occupied the lowest percentage change in values.
First, in the bar chart, petroleum and agricultural products were sold at the same rate of approximately 62 billion dollars in both years 2015 and 2016. Petroleum products were sold at the rate of 60 billion dollars in 2015 and almost 58 billion dollars in 2016. Gems and jewellery had earnings of 40 billion dollars in 2016 and 42 billion dollars in 2015. Agricultural products again met almost the same percentage of sale rate with 30 billion dollars. Textiles' earnings were near 26 billion dollars in 2015 and 31 billion dollars in 2016.
In sharp contrast to the bar chart, the table has textiles with the highest percentage change of 15.24%. Engineered products came second with 8.5% and gems and jewellery ranked third with 5.18%. Petroleum products met only 3% change in values. Agriculture products stood at the last position with 0.185% change in its values.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 6.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0
The response attempts to cover all parts of the prompt by describing the bar chart and the table. However, there are significant factual inaccuracies and contradictions when compared against the visual data. For instance, the student states that 'petroleum and agricultural products were sold at the same rate of approximately 62 billion dollars', which is factually incorrect and contradicts the data where petroleum was around 61-63 billion and agricultural products around 31-31.5 billion. Furthermore, the table data is transcribed incorrectly in places, such as reporting agricultural products changed by '0.185%' instead of '0.81%'. The overview attempts to highlight main features, but overall the inaccurate reporting of figures restricts the score to Band 5.0.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0
The essay is divided into logical paragraphs with an introduction, an overview, and separate body paragraphs for the chart and table. Cohesive devices are attempted, such as 'Overall', 'First', and 'In sharp contrast'. However, referencing and transitions are sometimes clumsy or inaccurate, such as using 'In contrast' in the opening sentence between two complementary visual sources. Paragraphing is adequate, but the mechanical nature of the linking words and the logical confusion in data presentation keep the response at Band 6.0.
Lexical Resource: Band 6.0
The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'earnings', 'revenue', 'percentage change', and 'categories'. There are attempts at less common phrasing ('in sharp contrast', 'occupied the lowest percentage change'), but word choice is sometimes imprecise or unnatural (e.g., 'sold at the rate of', 'met only 3% change'). There are also transcription errors regarding numbers written as words versus digits. The lexical range is sufficient to communicate meaning despite occasional inaccuracies, fitting Band 6.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The response utilizes a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'While in the table, textiles gained the highest percentage change...' and 'The bar chart illustrates the earnings in exports...'. However, there are frequent grammatical errors and awkward phrasing, such as 'agricultural products again met almost the same percentage of sale rate' and 'Agriculture products stood at the last position with 0.185% change in its values'. While these errors do not completely obscure meaning, they occur regularly throughout the text, warranting a Band 5.5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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