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 and 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 a 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 | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0
The student attempts to address all parts of the task by summarizing both the bar chart and the table. However, there are significant factual inaccuracies in data reporting. For instance, the student states that petroleum and agricultural products were sold at the same rate of approximately 62 billion dollars, which contradicts the visual data where petroleum was around 61-63 billion and agricultural products around 31-31.5 billion. Furthermore, the percentage change for agricultural products is misquoted as 0.185% instead of 0.81%. The overview points out some main features, but the body paragraphs contain contradictory and incorrect figures, which pulls the score down for task completion and accuracy of data selection.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0
The response is organized into four paragraphs, following a logical layout with an introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs. Cohesive devices are attempted, such as 'Overall', 'First', and 'In sharp contrast', though some transitions are used rather mechanically or clumsily, as seen in the opening sentence 'In contrast, the table shows...', which misuses the contrast linker. Paragraphing is generally appropriate, separating the bar chart details from the table details, but the logical progression within the paragraphs is hindered by data confusion and referencing errors.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with appropriate topic-related terms such as 'earnings in exports', 'percentage change', 'revenue', and various product categories. However, there is limited flexibility and several inappropriate word choices or inaccuracies, such as using 'rate' instead of 'value' or 'amount' ('sold at the same rate of approximately 62 billion dollars'). Less common lexical items are attempted, but minor inaccuracies in collocation and word choice prevent the score from reaching a higher band.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The response displays a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as 'While in the table, textiles gained the highest percentage change...' and 'Petroleum products were sold at the rate of 60 billion dollars in 2015...'. Grammatical control is generally fair, and simple sentences are mostly accurate. However, there are noticeable errors in tense, prepositional usage, and awkward phrasing (e.g., 'Agriculture products stood at the last position with 0.185% change in its values'). These errors do not completely impede communication, but they occur frequently enough to typify Band 5.5 performance.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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