Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-20

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 6.5)

The graph compares the average carbon dioxide emissions per person in four different countries between 1967 and 2007.

Overall, the average carbon dioxide emissions of the Portugal and Italy increased substantially over the period, while the United Kingdom and Sweden declined over the time.

Firstly, Sweden initially increased from 8.6 tons of CO2 emissions in 1967 and 10.2 tons of CO2 emission in 1977, than experienced a sharp decline to 7 tons in 1987 and 6 tons in 1997, reaching almost 5.4 tons in 2007. Subsequently, the CO2 emissions of UK fall considerably from 10.8 tons of emissions in 1967 to 8.8 tons of emissions in 2007. Furthermore, Italy’s carbon emissions rose to 4 tons of emissions in 1967 to 6.2 tons in 1977, rose further to 7.8 tons in 1997 and 2007 respectively. At last, carbon dioxide emissions in Portugal climbed from 1.6 tons in 1967 to 3.2 tons in 1987, reaching around same as Sweden at 5.4 tons in 2007.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The response gives a clear overview of the main contrast: emissions rose in Italy and Portugal, while the UK and Sweden ended lower than they began. It also reports several useful figures and correctly notes that Portugal reached roughly Sweden’s level by 2007. This meets the task well, though some details are imprecise or incomplete. For example, Italy rose to about 6.7 tonnes in 1987, a key intermediate point omitted from the account, and its figure was about 7.6 in both 1997 and 2007, not 7.8. Portugal began at approximately 1.2 tonnes rather than 1.6. More precise reporting and a clearer comparison of the countries’ final rankings would strengthen the summary further.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and a sequence of country-specific details. The broad progression from Sweden and the UK to Italy and Portugal is easy to follow, and linking expressions such as “Overall” and “Furthermore” help signal relationships. However, the organisation is somewhat mechanical, with “Firstly,” “Subsequently,” and “At last” used to move between series rather than to show meaningful comparisons. The final sentence combines Portugal’s rise with its comparison to Sweden, while Italy’s trend is presented separately, so the cross-country relationships are not fully developed. Grouping the declining series together and the rising series together, with clearer comparisons at key dates, would create smoother progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

The vocabulary is adequate for describing a line graph, and the writer uses relevant terms such as “increased substantially,” “sharp decline,” “fall considerably,” and “climbed.” These choices communicate the main trends, with some variation in how rises and falls are described. At times, however, wording is repetitive or imprecise: “tons of CO2 emissions” is repeated, and “reaching around same as Sweden” is not a natural comparison. “Emissions” and “tonnes per person” would be more concise and accurate. The phrase “rose to 4 tons” also describes Italy’s starting value, where “stood at” would be more suitable. Greater control of collocations and more precise graph-reporting vocabulary would make the account more fluent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The response includes both simple statements and longer sentences, including clauses that describe changes over time, so there is some variety in structure. Most of the meaning remains clear, but several grammatical errors prevent consistently accurate control. In “increased from 8.6 … and 10.2 …, than experienced,” the comparison should be expressed with “to,” followed by “then,” and the subject needs to be made clear. The sentence “Italy’s carbon emissions rose to 4 tons … to 6.2 tons” has an incorrect verb pattern; use “rose from … to …”. There is also a tense error in “the CO2 emissions of UK fall,” and “the Portugal and Italy” has an unnecessary article. Checking verb forms, articles, and parallel sentence patterns would improve accuracy.

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