Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-03

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 6.0)

The line chart illustrates the average carbon dioxide emission per person in four countries between 1967 and 2007. The unit is in metric tonnes.

Overall, The united kingdom stayed all time highest in emission of carbon dioxide, started from the peak and later decline with the time, while Portugal has opposite trend. Italy followed a gradually increased trend, whereas Sweden initally sharply increased and sudden fell trend with the period.

In 1967, the UK starts with the most proportion of emission in CO2 with 11 tonnes then gradually decreased to 10 tonnes in 1987 and reach upto around 9 tonnes in 2007, which is still highest in 200. Italy had 4 tonnes in 1967, while Sweden was almost doubled of Italy. In 1977. Sewden sharply reached to its maximum of 10 tonnes which faced a fell to 7 tonnes in 1987 kept reducing upto 5 tonnes in 2007.

Itally had sudden increase over a decade and landed at around 6 tonnes then surged pass Sweden in 1987 at 7 tonnes and steadly reached upto 8 tonnes in 2007. However, Portugal's emission was lowest among all at 1 tonne in 1967, followed increasing trend, reached at 3 tonnes in 1987 and finished at 5 tonnes, which is lowest in four countries in 2007.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response successfully addresses all parts of the prompt by presenting an overview of the main trends and selecting key data points to report and compare across the four countries. The overview clearly highlights the UK's position as the highest emitter and Portugal's as the lowest, alongside the general trajectories of Sweden and Italy. However, some aspects are unevenly developed. For instance, the discussion of individual years contains minor inaccuracies, such as stating the UK started at 11 tonnes and reached 9 tonnes in 2007, which are slightly misaligned with the precise chart values, though they reflect the general visual trend. Furthermore, some data references are slightly confused, such as the mention of 'still highest in 200'. To push into higher bands, the student needs to ensure greater precision when citing figures and extend the comparisons between countries more systematically rather than listing data points sequentially.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response maintains an overall logical arrangement, beginning with a clear introduction and overview, followed by body paragraphs dedicated to the detailed data. Cohesive devices are employed to structure the comparison, such as 'Overall', 'while', 'whereas', and 'However'. Nevertheless, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For example, the sentence 'Italy followed a gradually increased trend, whereas Sweden initally sharply increased and sudden fell trend with the period' suffers from awkward transitional phrasing and ambiguous referencing. Paragraphing is used to separate the introduction, overview, and body details, but within paragraphs, the progression of ideas can feel disjointed due to dense clusters of numbers and abrupt transitions. To improve cohesion, the student should ensure that cohesive markers are used more naturally and that sentences flow logically from one data point to the next without abrupt shifts.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common lexical items related to graph trends such as 'emission', 'peak', 'decline', 'surged', and 'proportion'. However, there are notable word choice, word form, and spelling errors throughout the text, such as 'initally' instead of 'initially', 'sudden fell trend' instead of 'suddenly falling trend', 'Itally', and 'steadly'. Phrases like 'most proportion of emission' and 'followed increasing trend' also show awkward collocation and missing articles. These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score. To achieve a higher band, the student must expand their repertoire of precise vocabulary for describing trends, ensure accurate word forms, and pay closer attention to spelling and standard collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, with attempts at relative clauses and comparative structures. However, there are several grammatical errors in verb tenses, prepositions, and article usage. Examples include 'started from the peak and later decline with the time' (tense inconsistency), 'reach upto around 9 tonnes' (inappropriate prepositional phrasing), and 'almost doubled of Italy' (faulty comparative structure). Punctuation is also occasionally unreliable, such as the comma splice in 'In 1977. Sewden sharply reached...'. These errors occur regularly across the text, though they rarely impede the overall communication of the data. To reach a higher band, the student needs to produce a greater proportion of error-free complex sentences and exercise tighter control over tense consistency when describing past statistical data.

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