Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-28
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 compares the value of one country's exports in various categories during 2015 and 2016.The table provides the date of the percentage change in each category of exports in 2016 compared with 2015. Overall, the export of petroleum products, engineered goods, and textiles highlights less increase in the total percentage. However, the export of agricultural products remained same in both years. While, engineerd goods show highest rise in the export.
By comapring the percentages, we came to know that in 2015 and 2016, textiles show the inflation rate of approximately 15.24% while gems and jewellery come with the decrease rate of 5.18%. Moreover, engineered products and agricultural products both show the increase upto 8.5% and 0.81% approximately. 3% rise occurs in th petroleum products.
In conclusion, the bar chart compares different changes in the export products and table provides information in percentage change in values of two years .
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The student covers all parts of the task by reporting the main features of both the bar chart and the table. An overview is attempted in the first paragraph, noting trends such as the highest rise in engineered goods and the decrease in gems and jewellery. However, there are several inaccurate statements regarding the data; for instance, the student claims that the export of agricultural products 'remained same in both years', whereas the chart and table show an increase from 31 to 31.5 billion dollars (a 0.81% rise). Furthermore, the description of petroleum products and textiles contains confusing phrasing ('highlights less increase in the total percentage'). While data is selected, the misinterpretation of specific figures pulls the score down into the Band 5.5 to 6.0 range, as it demonstrates some inaccurate reporting of key details.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The response has an overall structure consisting of an introduction, a body paragraph detailing specific figures, and a brief concluding summary. Paragraphing is attempted, though the transitions between ideas can be abrupt. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Overall', 'However', 'By comparing the percentages', and 'In conclusion', but some links are awkward or mechanical, such as 'we came to know that'. The logical progression is occasionally disrupted by confusing sentence structures and minor data contradictions. Referencing is mostly clear, but the overall flow feels slightly disjointed in the second paragraph due to clustering too many percentage figures together without clear grouping or comparison logic. This performance aligns well with Band 6.0 descriptors.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms like 'exports', 'categories', 'percentage change', 'decrease rate', and 'inflation rate' (though the latter is used inaccurately for export growth). There are noticeable lexical errors, such as 'engineerd' (engineered), 'remained same' (remained the same), and 'upto' (up to). Less common vocabulary is attempted with some inaccuracy in word choice and collocation, such as 'highlights less increase' and 'decrease rate' instead of 'decrease of'. While communication is generally maintained, the frequency of word-formation and collocation errors prevents the response from reaching Band 6.5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including relative clauses and introductory prepositional phrases ('By comapring the percentages'). However, grammatical accuracy is weak, featuring several errors such as missing articles ('the table provides the date' instead of 'data'), spelling mistakes ('engineerd', 'comapring'), and awkward phrasing ('3% rise occurs in th petroleum products'). Punctuation is generally acceptable, but preposition usage and verb forms show frequent slips. Because errors occur regularly throughout the text and occasionally cause slight reading difficulty, this performance corresponds to a Band 5.5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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