Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-11-03
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 compares the export earnings of a country from five different catogories in 2015 and 2016, While table shows the percentage of every category.
Overall, exports revenue increased four of the five categories in 2016, with textiles showing the most significant growth. Petroleum products remained the highest earners, whereas textiles lowest in 2015. Gems and jewellery is the one which decline in 2016.
In 2015, petroleum products generated just over 60 billions which rose up 3% in 2016. Engineered goods second largest approximately 56% in 2015 and grow up 8.5% in 2016. Earnings for gems and jewellery fell from around 43 billions to 5.18% from approximately 40 billions in 2016.
The other two categories showed smaller. Agricultral products saw marginal growth of 0.81%, from 31 billions to 32 billions in 2016. Textiles which was the smaller category about 25 billions, experienced increased 15.24%, and reaching about 31 billions in 2016.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0
You identify the main overall pattern: four categories rose, textiles had the strongest growth, and gems and jewellery declined. You also compare the leading category with the lowest in 2015 and include relevant figures for all five categories. However, some details are unclear or inaccurate: engineered goods were about $57 billion in 2015, not “56%” (the unit is billions, not a percentage), and the gems figure is awkwardly reported as falling “to 5.18% from approximately 40 billions”; 5.18% is the rate of decline, while the 2016 value was about $41 billion. The overview and coverage are relevant, but clearer reporting of these figures and fuller comparisons would make the response more complete.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0
The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs covering the categories. This makes the main message easy to locate, and phrases such as “Overall” and “In 2015” help signal the stages of the report. However, some links between ideas are faulty or unclear. For example, “The other two categories showed smaller” does not specify what was smaller, and the sentence about gems combines the percentage change and the 2016 value in a confusing order. The overview also repeats information that is then developed below without always establishing a clear comparison. Use more precise transitions and make each sentence’s relationship to the previous one explicit.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
You use a relevant range of task vocabulary, including “export earnings,” “generated,” “marginal growth,” and “decline,” and the reader can generally understand the comparisons. However, several word-choice, collocation, and spelling problems reduce precision: “catogories” and “Agricultral” are misspelled, “showed smaller” is incomplete, and “rose up” and “grow up” are not natural ways to describe increases. “56%” also uses the wrong form for a value expressed in billions. Aim for accurate collocations such as “rose to,” “increased by,” and “recorded earnings of,” and check spelling and whether each figure is a value or a percentage.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
You attempt a mix of simple and more complex sentences, including the overview clause “with textiles showing the most significant growth” and the contrast about gems. Meaning is usually recoverable, but some grammatical errors affect clarity. The opening sentence joins two independent clauses with a comma, and “Overall, exports revenue increased four of the five categories” lacks a clear grammatical relationship between the revenue and categories. Other examples include “Engineered goods second largest” (missing a verb) and “Textiles … experienced increased” (incorrect verb construction). There are also tense and agreement inconsistencies, such as “Gems and jewellery is” followed by “decline.” Build complete clauses, maintain past tense, and check subject–verb agreement and sentence boundaries.
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