Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-18

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 demonstrates the average co2 emissions per person in the UK,Sweden,Italy and Portugal betweenen 1967 and 2007, aperiod of 50 years. Overall, the CO2 emission per person in the portugal and Italy increased whereas, in the UK and Seweden declined.

In the beginning, we can see that the carbon dioxide emissions in 1967 in the Portugal was approximately 1%,and in the Italy was approximately 4.1% during this year. a gradual increased in CO2 emissions was seened in the upcoming years.by the year 2007 the CO2 emission by Portugal was approximately just below the 6 metriic tonne,while, by Italy was approximately 7.8 metric tonne.

On the other hand, we can see that the CO2 emissions in the UK continously declined approximate 11 materic tonnes was in 1967 and approximately 8.8 metric tonne in 2007.The carbon dioxide emission by Sweden increased from 1967 to 1977 approximately from 8.5 to 10.2 metric tonnes,

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers all parts of the task well, providing an overview and selecting key features and comparisons from the graph. The student correctly identifies the overall trends (increases for Portugal and Italy, decreases for the UK and Sweden) and reports relevant data points. However, the response trails off abruptly at the end, leaving the discussion of Sweden incomplete and failing to reach the 2007 endpoint for that country. Furthermore, there are minor misreadings, such as stating emissions were in percentages (%) rather than metric tonnes. Because the main trends and data are present, it satisfies the requirements for a Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response has a coherent overall arrangement and attempts to organise information logically, starting with an introduction and overview, followed by body details. However, paragraphing is underdeveloped; the text runs together into cramped blocks rather than using clear paragraph breaks. Cohesive devices are basic and sometimes mechanical (e.g., 'In the beginning, we can see that...', 'On the other hand, we can see that...'). Referencing and transitions between sentences are occasionally faulty, resulting in a somewhat choppy flow. These limitations place the response firmly in the Band 5.5 to 6.0 range, warranting a 5.5 due to the poor paragraphing and mechanical cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'gradual' and 'continuously'. However, there are noticeable inaccuracies in word choice and units of measurement (e.g., using '1%' instead of metric tonnes, writing 'metriic' and 'materic'). There are also awkward collocations and spelling errors ('betweenen', 'aperiod', 'seened'). While communication is generally maintained, these errors restrict the score to Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control is inconsistent. There are frequent grammatical errors, such as missing prepositions or articles ('in the Portugal', 'in the Italy'), incorrect verb forms ('was seened'), and sentence fragments or run-on structures (e.g., ending abruptly with a comma). Although the meaning is usually clear enough to follow, the high frequency of basic and structural errors prevents the response from reaching a Band 6.0, aligning it instead with Band 5.0.

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

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