Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-11-12

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The graph below shows the average monthly change in the prices of three metals during 2014.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Average monthly change in prices of copper, nickel and zinc (2014)

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The line graph compares the average monthly variations in the cost of copper,nickles adn zinc during 2014.

Overall, Nickel started from the highest price and zinc from the lowest price in the figure among the metals.The prices of all metal demonstrates the trend of decreasing over the months except zinc which rose initial for the first month and then follow the same trend.The change in price is not observed and remain static with almost no variations from July to September and are decreasing again before a dramatic acceleration in the cost within one month, except copper which is showing a static data.The values of the three metal rises gradually in the last month of data collection.

Looking in details, the prices of nickel decline fastly from six percent to three percent showing the becomes half of the starting ones over the period of five months.However, zinc follow the rising trend in the first month from one percent to three percent and declined to minus one within five months.Initially, the price of copper was declined very fast from two percent to less than zero percent but start rising after the period of five months and then remain static with a slight rise in the last month.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the graph’s subject and include an overview, then compare the metals in the body. The overview correctly notes nickel’s high starting point and the broadly weak middle of the year, and your account of zinc rising early before falling is relevant. However, several key details are inaccurate or unclear: nickel falls to about −3% in June, not “three percent” as a positive figure, and copper does not decline “very fast” from 2% to below zero; it changes more gradually and is around −0.5% in May and June. The claim that all metals decrease over the months also oversimplifies their different patterns. Select the main turning points and report the negative values explicitly to make the summary more reliable.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview and a paragraph describing individual metals. This gives the reader a general route through the information, and phrases such as “Looking in details” signal a move to specific data. However, the overview combines many claims in a long, difficult-to-follow sequence, and some links between ideas are unclear—for example, the statement about prices remaining static from July to September is followed by a claim that they decrease again, without clearly identifying which metals this refers to. Organise the overview around the main contrast between nickel’s larger fluctuations and copper’s relative stability, then use the body to describe the metals in a consistent order. Clearer sentence boundaries and more precise referencing would improve progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of graph vocabulary, including “average monthly variations,” “declined,” “rising trend,” “static” and “dramatic acceleration.” These choices show an attempt to describe movement and comparison, but several word forms, spellings and collocations are inaccurate or awkward, such as “nickles,” “fastly,” “the prices … demonstrates,” and “the cost within one month.” “Price” is also repeated frequently, while “cost” is not always the most natural term for the graph’s percentage changes. Aim for precise expressions such as “fell sharply,” “remained stable” and “monthly price change,” and check spelling and collocation. More accurate vocabulary would make the trends easier to understand without requiring a much wider range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including clauses linked with “which” and “except,” and the overall meaning is usually recoverable. However, errors in agreement, tense, articles and sentence construction occur across the response. For example, “The prices of all metal demonstrates” has a plural subject with a singular verb, while “zinc … rose initial … and then follow” shifts awkwardly between verb forms. The long overview sentence beginning “The change in price is not observed” also contains unclear agreement and clause connections. Use past tense consistently for the 2014 data, check singular and plural subjects, and divide long sentences into shorter units. These corrections would improve accuracy while preserving your attempts at complex structures.

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