Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-08

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 illustrates the earnings of a country through exports between 2015 and 2016, while table compares the proportion of developments occur in each export commodity in 2016 to 2015.

Overall, earning through all categories increased in 2016 in contrast to 2015, with exception to gems and jewellery products. Petroleum was major sector of forein exchange. in terms of percentage of exports, all commodities experienced a rise except gems and jewellery whose sales declined. Major boost was observed textiles sales.

In detail, petroleum had just over 60 million worth exports in 2015 which rose to about 62 million in 2016. Just below

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the main pattern that most export categories rose and that gems and jewellery declined, and you correctly highlight textiles as having the strongest percentage growth. However, the response addresses the task only partially: it stops during the petroleum description (“Just below”) and gives no comparisons for engineered goods, gems and jewellery, agricultural products, or textiles’ actual values. The overview also says earnings increased in all categories except gems, which is broadly accurate, but the chart and table are not reported in enough detail to summarise the main features fully. The response is 48 words below the required minimum, contributing to its limited development. Complete the comparisons and include the key highs, lows, and notable changes.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is a recognisable structure: an introduction is followed by an overview and then a detail paragraph. The overview uses “Overall” appropriately, and “In detail” signals a move towards figures. However, the progression is cut off before the comparison is completed, so the response does not develop into a coherent account of all categories. The overview also repeats the same general point in two sentences (“all categories increased” and “all commodities experienced a rise except…”). Improve cohesion by grouping the categories—for example, the two highest earners, then the lower-valued categories—and use clear comparisons to connect the figures. Ensure each paragraph is complete and that linking phrases introduce genuinely new information.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant task vocabulary, including “exports,” “categories,” “percentage,” “declined,” and “major boost,” which helps communicate the broad trends. However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or awkward, such as “proportion of developments occur,” “earnings through exports,” and “Petroleum was major sector of foreign exchange.” “Sales” is also less precise than “export earnings” when describing the chart’s monetary values. Spelling errors such as “forein” further reduce accuracy. Aim for concise, standard chart language and use terms consistently: describe values as export earnings, changes as increases or decreases, and categories as sectors or product groups.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts a range of sentence forms, including a contrast clause in “with exception to gems and jewellery products” and a relative clause beginning “whose sales declined.” However, errors are frequent enough to make some sentences awkward or difficult to follow. For example, “while table compares” is missing an article, “developments occur” has an unclear verb construction, and “Petroleum was major sector” also needs an article. The sentence beginning “in terms of percentage…” is not correctly punctuated after the preceding sentence, and the final sentence is incomplete. Practise accurate article use, complete sentence construction, and punctuation, then check that every sentence has a clear subject and verb.

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