Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-29
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 chart depicts the exports of a specific country in various sectors in the years 2015 and 2016. Moreover, the table below illustrates the change in proportion of each sector for the year 2016 compared to 2015.
Overall, the textile industry had the highest positive change among all the other sectors. On the other hand, gems and jewellery showed a negative trend in value for the year 2016 compared to 2015. Whereas, petroleum products had the maximum contribution to the exports for both 2015 and 2016.
All the industries had achieved a positive change in value for 2016 apart from the gems and jewellery industry, which faced a loss of about 5.18%. The textile sector had achieved a growth of about 15.24% in the year 2016 compared to 2015.
Petroleum products had topped the list for having the highest exports among all the other sectors, which were around 61% in 2015 and about 62% in 2016. During the year 2015, the field which had the lowest exports of all was the textile industry.
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 well, providing an overview and selecting key features from both the bar chart and the table. The overview correctly highlights the textile industry's top positive change and the downward trend in gems and jewellery. However, there is a minor data misinterpretation in the final paragraph: the student describes petroleum exports as being 'around 61% in 2015 and about 62% in 2016', whereas the chart measures export earnings in billions of dollars, not percentages. Despite this confusion between units and percentages, the main trends and comparisons are generally well reported, placing this response at Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The response is organized into logical paragraphs, beginning with an introduction, followed by an overall summary, and subsequent body paragraphs detailing specific trends. Cohesive devices are used to connect ideas, such as 'Moreover', 'On the other hand', and 'Whereas'. However, some cohesive links are used awkwardly or begin sentences in a grammatically incomplete way, such as 'Whereas, petroleum products had the maximum contribution...' and 'All the industries had achieved...'. Paragraphing is present and appropriate, leading to a clear overall arrangement deserving of Band 6.0.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task, with attempts at less common items such as 'contribution', 'proportion', and 'depicts'. However, there are notable lexical inaccuracies, most prominent being the confusion of units, referring to billions of dollars as percentages ('around 61%'). Additionally, phrases like 'faced a loss of about 5.18%' are slightly unnatural when describing a decrease in export value. Because the lexical range is sufficient for communication despite word choice errors, a Band 6.0 is appropriate.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as 'The chart depicts the exports...' and 'All the industries had achieved a positive change in value for 2016 apart from the gems and jewellery industry, which faced a loss...'. There are some tense and aspect inaccuracies, such as using the past perfect ('had achieved') where the simple past ('achieved') is required. Punctuation errors also occur, such as separating dependent clauses with full stops or commas improperly ('Whereas, petroleum products had...'). These errors do not impede communication, placing the grammar at Band 6.0.
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