Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-06

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 6.0)

The chart illustrates the export earnings of one country in various categories such as, petroleum products, engineered goods, gems and jewellery, agricultural products and textiles during 2015 and 2016, while the table indicates the percentage change in values of each category in 2016 compared with 2015. Units are measured in $ billions.

Overall, they demonstrated that petroleum products represented the largest category and engineered goods the second-largest category for export earnings in both years but earnings were slightly higher in 2016 than 2015. Whereas export earning by gems and jewellery was higher in 2015 than 2016 but the percentage value decreased significantly in this category. In contrast, despite having earning by export significantly lower in textiles in 2015, but the percentage value increased greater in 2016 than any other category.

In 2015, the petroleum products earning was approximately 61$ billion, which surged to around 62$ billion by 2016, represented the largest category. Similarly, engineered goods accounted for about 58$ billion in 2015 that rose to just over 60$ billion in 2016, the second-largest category. The export earning by gems and jewellery was higher in 2015 approximately 43$ billion, which dropped to just over 40$ billion in 2016. After that, earning for agricultural products grew slightly from 31$ billion to 32$ billion in 2015 and 2016. Finally, the textiles category had the lowest earning at about 27$ billion, which rose to just 31$ billion in 2016.

Regarding percentage change in values of each category, the textiles experienced an impressive rally of 15.24% over the period. Similarly, engineered goods percentage increased to 8.5%, 3% of petroleum products and 0.81% of agricultural products from 2015 to 2016. Meanwhile, the proportion of gems and jewellery declined to 5.18% in the same years.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The response successfully addresses all parts of the task by providing a clear overview of the main trends and selecting relevant data to report and compare. You correctly identify petroleum products as the largest category in both years and effectively highlight the significant percentage change in textiles. However, some ideas tend to over-generalise or lack full extension, which prevents the response from reaching a higher band. For instance, while you mention that gems and jewellery decreased, the specific numerical details are occasionally vague or slightly inaccurate when compared with the visual data (such as stating petroleum products were 61 billion dollars in 2015 when the chart shows it clearly). To move to the next level, ensure that every key trend is supported by precise data points without minor discrepancies, and extend the comparisons between categories more comprehensively.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay has a coherent overall arrangement and a logical progression of ideas from an introduction to an overview, followed by body paragraphs detailing the chart data and the table percentages. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different types of information. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty, as seen in awkward transitions like 'After that, earning for agricultural products grew slightly' or repetitive sentence starters. Referencing and cohesive devices are occasionally imprecise, which disrupts the natural flow. To achieve a higher band, you need to employ a wider and more flexible range of cohesive devices and ensure that referencing between sentences is smoother and more varied.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully conveying information about export earnings, percentage changes, and categories such as 'petroleum products' and 'engineered goods'. You attempt less common vocabulary items like 'surged', 'impressive rally', and 'proportion', showing an awareness of style. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and phrasing—for example, writing 'export earning by gems and jewellery' instead of 'earnings from' or 'the proportion of gems and jewellery declined to 5.18%' when the table shows a percentage change rather than a proportion. These lexical slips do not impede communication, but they keep the response at this level. To improve, focus on precise collocations and correct prepositional usage with economic terminology.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures like relative clauses and comparative clauses. There are, however, some errors in grammar and punctuation throughout the text that persist, such as awkward phrasing in 'despite having earning by export significantly lower in textiles' and minor prepositional or structural inaccuracies in 'engineered goods percentage increased to 8.5%, 3% of petroleum products and 0.81% of agricultural products'. Punctuation errors also appear, such as double spaces or commas splitting coordinate clauses incorrectly. Although these errors rarely impede communication, they reflect a control level that includes frequent minor errors rather than a majority of error-free complex sentences.

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