Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-03

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 value of one country's exports in various categories during 2015 and 2016. Following chart demonstrates the percentage changes in each category of exports in 2016 compared with 2015.

Overall, the country's exports rose marginally in the categories of petroleum products, while increased significantly in the category of engineered goods and textiles. Agricultural products exports rose slightly, though gems and jewellery reduced marginally throughout the year.

Petroleum products exports stood at just above 60 percent in 2015 and rose to around 63 percent in 2016.

Engineering goods recorded roughly 57 percent in 2015 and increased to 8.5 percent in 2016.

Gems and jewellery started at around 43 percent in 2015; however, the percentage declined 5.18 percent in 2016.

Agricultural products registered at just above 30 percent and faced a slight decrease of 0.81 percent

The textile recorded the lowest export category, but increased significantly around 15.24 percent.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response only partially addresses the task requirements and fails to reach the minimum length of 150 words, falling short by 17 words (not counting copied prompt material). While the writer attempts to present an overview and mention some categories, the data is significantly confused. A major flaw in the data reporting is the misinterpretation of the units: the student treats billion-dollar export values as percentages (e.g., stating petroleum products stood at 'just above 60 percent' and engineering goods recorded 'roughly 57 percent'). Furthermore, the percentage change figures from the table are mixed up with the chart values, such as stating that engineering goods increased to 8.5 percent. To improve, the writer must carefully distinguish between absolute values in billions of dollars and percentage changes, accurately report data from both the chart and the table, and ensure the word count requirement is fully met.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response shows some basic organization with an introductory paragraph, an overview, and subsequent body paragraphs for different categories. However, there is no clear overall progression, and the paragraphing is fragmented with several isolated, single-sentence paragraphs. Cohesive devices are minimal, mechanical, or inaccurate, such as starting a sentence with 'Following chart demonstrates' instead of 'The following chart'. Reference pronouns are sometimes vague, and the disjointed structure prevents the information from flowing logically. To achieve a higher band, the writer should group related data together into cohesive, well-developed paragraphs, use a wider and more accurate range of cohesive devices to connect ideas, and ensure a smooth logical progression throughout the response.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate to convey basic concepts related to the visual data, utilizing words such as 'illustrates', 'categories', 'significantly', and 'decrease'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors and inappropriate word choices, most notably mislabeling billion-dollar values as percentages throughout the text. There are also slight awkwardness in phrasing, such as 'gems and jewellery reduced marginally throughout the year' where 'declined' or 'decreased' would be more precise. To move to a higher band, the writer needs to incorporate a wider range of less common vocabulary with greater precision, demonstrate better control over collocation and word choice, and avoid fundamental errors in describing data units.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response relies on a limited range of sentence structures, primarily simple sentences and basic subject-verb constructions. When the writer attempts more complex forms, errors frequently occur, such as awkward phrasing and missing articles (e.g., 'The textile recorded the lowest export category'). There are frequent grammatical errors, including incorrect verb tenses or forms in data reporting (e.g., 'gems and jewellery reduced marginally' instead of being passive, and 'agricultural products registered at just above 30 percent'). Punctuation is also incomplete, with the final sentence missing a period. To improve, the student should practice producing a wider variety of complex sentence structures with accurate grammatical control, paying closer attention to subject-verb agreement, article use, and punctuation.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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