Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-21
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 line graph tracks the record of carbon dioxide emissions in metric tonnes, emmited by each person in four countries, namely United Kingdom, Sweden, Italy and Portugal from 1967 to 2007.
Overall, United Kingdom was the major producer of carbon dioxide in most years, followed by Sweden. However, both of them experienced a fall over the years. Wherease, Italy and Portugal were low in production of carbon dioxide, although the grew contineously each year.
In 1967, people in United Kingdom emmited about 11 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide, and right behind it is Sweden with about 8.9 metric tonnes. United Kingdom stays the same in carbon dioxide emission in 1997, whereas Sweden reached almost the same same level, with about 10.9 metric tonnes. Both countries experienced a fall after 1977, where emission reached 9 metric tonnes in United Kingdom and around 7.5 metric tonnes in Sweden, in 2007.
On the other hand, Portugal was lowest in carbon dioxide emission and Italy was the second lowest, with 1.5 metric tonnes and 4.2 metric tonnes in 1967. Although, both of them grew as years passed, where Italy got ahead of Sweden with almost 7.8 metric tonnes, and Portugal reached right beside it, at 7.5 metric tonnes, in 2007.
Although two of them falls and two of them grew over time, United Kingdom maintains its position, with highest carbon dioxide emmisions over the year.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The student covers all parts of the task well, providing an overview and selecting key features and comparisons between the four countries. The opening successfully paraphrases the prompt. The overview accurately captures the general trends, noting that the UK and Sweden experienced downward trajectories while Italy and Portugal saw upward growth. However, there are some minor factual inaccuracies in data reporting. For instance, the student states that the UK stayed the same in 1997 and that Sweden reached 10.9 in that year, which misreads the chart values where both countries generally declined. Additionally, the final paragraph claims Portugal reached 7.5 metric tonnes in 2007 (placing it right beside Italy), whereas the actual figure for Portugal in 2007 was around 5.4. Despite these data discrepancies, the main trends and overall comparisons are sufficiently addressed to satisfy the band 6 criteria well, though the misreadings prevent a higher score.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response is arranged logically into four distinct paragraphs, providing an introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs comparing the countries. There is a clear overall progression from the starting points in 1967 to the final figures in 2007. Cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'However', 'Wherease', and 'On the other hand' are employed to connect ideas and signal contrasts between countries. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different groups of nations. However, some referencing and cohesive links are slightly faulty or mechanical, and the transitional phrase 'Wherease, Italy and Portugal' contains a typo and punctuation error. Overall, the structural organization is coherent and easy to follow throughout, earning a solid band 6.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, attempting words and phrases like 'major producer', 'carbon dioxide emission', and 'contineously'. However, there are several noticeable spelling errors throughout the text, including 'emmited', 'Wherease', 'contineously', and 'emmisions'. Word choices are generally clear enough to communicate the intended meaning, but the presence of recurrent spelling slips and occasional awkward phrasings like 'right behind it is Sweden' keep the lexical score within the band 6 range. To push higher, the student needs to incorporate a wider variety of less common academic vocabulary with greater spelling accuracy.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating clauses with 'although', 'whereas', and relative structures. However, control over grammar and tense consistency is inconsistent. There are tense shifts between past and present forms, such as 'United Kingdom stays the same' instead of stayed, and subject-verb agreement issues like 'two of them falls' instead of fell. Punctuation errors are also present, such as misplaced commas before dependent clauses. While these errors do not impede overall communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the response from achieving a band 7.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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