Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-16

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 illustrates the average carbon dioxide emissions per person in four different countries during four decades.

Overall,it stands out from the graph is that in the United Kingdom has highest carbon dioxide emissions and Portugal has lowest.

In 1967,amost 11 metric tones carbon dioxide emissions was recorded in the United Kindom.There was considerable decrease in emissions during every deacde and reached to nearly 8 metric tone in 2007.In Sweden,almost 9 metric tone CO2 emissions was recorded in 1967,which saw a huge surge in 1977 and again fell down to nearly 7 metric tone in 1987 and reached its lowest point in 2007 which was 5 metric tone.

In Italy,in 1967,almost 4 metric tone of CO2 emissions was recorded.There was considerable increase in this and reached almost 8 metric tone in 1987 than beacame levelled off until 2007.While in Portugal,nearly 1 and a half metric tone CO2 emmissions were recorded in 1967.There was slightly rise in emissions during every decade and reached almost 5 metric tone in 1997,then became levelled off just like in Italy.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main overall contrast: the UK has the highest emissions for most of the period, while Portugal starts lowest, and you describe the broad decline in the UK and Sweden and rise in Italy and Portugal. Most reported figures are close to the graph. However, the overview is incomplete: Portugal does not remain the lowest by 2007, when it is level with Sweden at about 5.4 tonnes. There is also a significant date error for Italy: emissions reach almost 7 tonnes in 1987, not almost 8; the figure is about 7.6 in 1997 and remains there in 2007. The main features are relevant, but these comparisons and some trends need more precise reporting.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, an overview, and paragraphs describing the countries’ trends. This makes the information generally easy to follow, and linking expressions such as “In Sweden” and “While in Portugal” help signal shifts between series. However, the overview is brief and does not capture the important end-point comparison between Sweden and Portugal. Some connections are mechanical or unclear, particularly “There was considerable increase in this and reached…” and “then became levelled off just like in Italy.” The long country-by-country sentences also combine several changes without consistently clear links. To improve progression, group the rising trends together or make each country’s sequence more explicitly connected, and use referencing that clearly identifies what each pronoun refers to.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant task vocabulary, including “emissions,” “surge,” “decrease,” and “levelled off,” and the meaning is generally understandable. There is some repetition of “metric tone” and “was recorded,” however, and several word-choice or spelling problems reduce precision: “huge surge” is less suitable for a neutral report, while “amost,” “deacde,” “emmissions,” and “Kindom” are misspelled. “Metric tone” should be “metric tonnes,” and “slightly rise” is not a natural collocation. Aim for a more accurate range of trend language, such as “rose steadily,” “declined gradually,” and “remained stable,” while checking spelling and using standard units consistently.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including relative clauses such as “which saw a huge surge in 1977” and time clauses describing later changes. However, some sentence structures are faulty, and errors in agreement, articles, and verb patterns recur. For example, “Overall,it stands out from the graph is that in the United Kingdom has highest…” lacks a workable clause structure; “emissions was recorded” should use a plural verb, and “reached to nearly” has an incorrect verb pattern. Punctuation spacing is also inconsistent, with commas attached to the following words. These problems do not prevent the reader from following the broad trends, but they limit grammatical control. Practise accurate overview constructions and check subject–verb agreement and sentence boundaries.

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