Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-27
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 5.0)
The graph represents the emission of Carbon dioxide (CO2) in the UK, Sweden, Italy, and Portugal from 1967 to 2007 per person.
Overall, the graph contain two sections of details, CO2 emission in metric tonnes, and years detail from 1967 to 2007 with the gap of decades. The graph shows the UK at the top throughout the years, where Italy started from 3rd position and overpassed the sweden, and reached at 2nd place until 2007. Where sweden and Portugal coincided at the end of the graph. Morever the decline in Sweden was major and Portugal surged in emission rate.
United Kingdom and Sweden, both declined overall, the UK started from 11 metric tonnes and with linear declination reached at almost 9 metric tonnes till 2007. Where on the other hand, Sweden started from 9 metric tonnes and in 1977 reached at almost 10 metric tonnes just under the UK in the graph, but than suddenly dropped to less than 6 metric tonnes.
Furthermore, Italy and Portugal, both has increased the amount of emission. The italy started from 4 metric tonnes, and reached at almost 8 metric tonnes emission in 2007 with stepped like graph. Morever, Portugal strated from least amount of emission, almost 1 metric ton, and smoothly increased to almost 5 metric tonnes.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The student covers all four countries and spans the time period from 1967 to 2007. An overview is attempted in the first paragraph, though it describes the layout of the graph rather than highlighting key trends. While the main features are identified—such as the UK staying highest, Sweden declining, and Italy and Portugal increasing—the data reporting contains several inaccuracies. For instance, the student states that Italy reached the second place and overpassed Sweden, whereas the chart shows Sweden starting higher and finishing lower than Italy by 2007, but Italy actually surpassed Sweden mid-period and remained higher. Furthermore, specific figures occasionally misread the data, such as claiming the UK started at 11 metric tonnes (actual is around 10.8) and Portugal started at 1 metric tonne (actual is 1.2). These minor data misreadings and a slightly weak overview place this response at band 5.5.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0
The text is organised into four paragraphs: an introduction, an overview, a body paragraph covering the UK and Sweden, and a final body paragraph covering Italy and Portugal. Logical progression is attempted, but cohesion is often faulty or mechanical. The student repeatedly uses 'Where' and 'Morever' at the start of sentences incorrectly to link independent clauses or introduce new points (e.g., 'Where sweden and Portugal coincided...', 'Morever the decline in Sweden...'). Paragraphing is present, but referencing and logical transitions between sentences lack clarity, resulting in an overall choppy structure. These features correspond to a band 5.0.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the student to describe trends and comparative positions ('decline', 'surged', 'increased', 'position'). However, there is a limited range of less common lexical items, and word choices are frequently repetitive or imprecise (e.g., 'linear declination', 'stepped like graph'). There are also recurring spelling and morphological errors, such as 'contain' instead of 'contains', 'declination' instead of 'decline', 'sweden' uncapitalised, 'Morever', and 'strated'. Although these errors do not completely impede communication, they restrict the lexical score to a band 5.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over complex structures is weak and frequently faulty. Many sentences contain grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('the graph contain', 'the italy started'), incorrect prepositions, and run-on sentences joined poorly by commas or conjunctions (e.g., 'where Italy started from 3rd position and overpassed the sweden, and reached at 2nd place until 2007. Where sweden and Portugal coincided...'). Punctuation is also problematic, with misplaced commas and lack of capitalisation for proper nouns. These frequent errors cause some difficulty for the reader, fitting the band 5.0 descriptors.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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