Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-11-13

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The graph below shows average carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions per person in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Italy and Portugal between 1967 and 2007.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

THE GIVEN LINE GRAPH ILLUSTRATES THE EMISSIONS OF CARBON DIOXIDE BY EACH PERSON IN THE FOUR DIFFERENT COUNTRIES UNITED KINGDOM,SWEDEN ,ITALY AND PORTUGAL FROM 1967 TO 2007.

OVERALL, THE POPULATION OF UNITED KINGDOM EMITS MORE CARBON DIOXIDE WHILE PORTUGAL AND SWEDEN'S POPULATION CONTRIBUTED LESS IN THE EMISSION OF CARBON DIOXIDE.

ON THE ONE HAND, THE PUBLIC OF UNITED KINGDOM EMITS CARBON DIOXIDE MORE THAN 10 TONNES IN 1967, WHILE AFTER THIS A GRADUAL DECLINED IN THIS EMISSION AND CONTINOUSLY DECREASED AND REMAINED ABOUT NINE TONNES IN 2007.IN 1967, THE EMISSION LEVEL OF CARBON DIOXIDE OF SWEDEN WAS INCREASED AND ABOUT MORE THAN TEN TONNES IN 1977 BUT AFTER THIS YEAR A SHARPLY DECLINED IN THE EMISSION OF CARBON DIOXIDE AND REMAINED ABOUT LESS THAN 6 TONNES IN 2007.

ON THE SECOND HAND, IN 1967 THE EMISSION LEVEL OF CARBON DIOXIDE OF ITALY WAS ABOUT MORE THAN 4 TONNES AND ROSE UPTO SIX TONNES AFTER A SLIGHTLY INCREASED IT REMAINED CONSTANT AND WAS ROUGHLY MORE THAN 7 TONNES WHILE IN 1967 THE LEVEL OF EMISSION WAS ONLY LESS THAN 2 TONNES BUT IT WAS A GRADUAL INCREASED IN THE EMISSION OF CARBON DIOXIDE AND IN 2007, IT WAS APPROXIMATELYMORE THAN FIVE TONNES AND LESS THAN SIX TONNES.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the four countries and cover the full period, and your overview correctly notes that the UK remained the highest emitter while Portugal began at the lowest level and rose substantially. You also report several key movements accurately: Sweden peaked at just over 10 tonnes in 1977 before falling, and Portugal reached roughly 5.4 tonnes by 2007. Some details are less fully or clearly reported. Italy rose from about 4.3 tonnes to around 7.6, then levelled off; your account says it became constant after a slight increase but does not clearly establish when. The overview also groups Sweden with Portugal as low emitters, although Sweden started second-highest and only fell below Italy later. A clearer overview of the contrasting trends and more precise comparisons would strengthen the response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and two body sections that group the countries. This gives the reader a broad route through the information. However, progression within the body paragraphs is sometimes difficult to follow, particularly where Italy and Portugal are discussed in one long sentence without a clear transition between them. Phrases such as “On the one hand” and “On the second hand” are mechanical and do not accurately signal the relationships between the data. Some references, including “after this year,” are also vague. Use separate, focused sentences for each country, and connect them with precise comparisons such as “by contrast” or “meanwhile” to make the organisation clearer and cohesion less repetitive.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “emissions,” “gradual,” “sharply,” and “remained,” so the main trends can generally be understood. However, the range is limited by repeated use of “emission of carbon dioxide,” and several expressions are unnatural or imprecise, such as “the population … contributed less in the emission” and “rose upto six tonnes.” There are also spelling and word-form errors, including “continously,” “declined” where a noun or verb form is needed, and “approximatelymore.” These do not usually prevent understanding, but they reduce precision and control. Aim for concise chart language such as “per-capita emissions,” “fell steadily,” and “rose to,” while checking spelling and avoiding repeated wording.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including clauses linked with “while” and “but,” and the overall meaning is usually recoverable. However, some sentence structures are faulty or overloaded. For example, “after this a gradual declined in this emission and continously decreased” lacks a clear grammatical subject and mixes a noun form with a verb. In “the emission level … was increased,” the passive construction is not appropriate for describing the trend; “increased” is the clearer verb. There are also agreement and tense inconsistencies, such as “the population … emits” when describing past data, and punctuation problems where sentences run together. Build shorter sentences with a clear subject and use past-tense verbs consistently for the period shown.

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