Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-11

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 illustrates the standard monthly shift in the price of three different metals copper, nickel and zinc in the year 2014.

Overall, nickel began with higher volume declined in the whole year and become most plummeted metal.In contrast, all the metals remained platued from July to September.

Initially, zinc started with 1% change in January, surged to 3% during February, experienced minor fluctuations in next three months, sudden drop to -1% , then remained standardized from July to September and finailly reached 1% in the end of the period.

Copper began with 2% in January, plouged to the lowest at 0.5% from May to June, proliferated to 1%, remained steady in next three months and then ended at 1.5% in December.

Relatively, the nickel started with 6% in January, faced instant drop to 1% during two months, suffered slight oscillations, diminished at -3% as the lowest in whole year, leveled off for three months and ultimetally reached 1% at the end of time.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers all three metals and identifies key trends, such as the initial high point for nickel and the period of stability for all metals between July and September. However, the overview is slightly weak; while it mentions the general trend for nickel, it fails to provide a comprehensive summary of the overall patterns for all three metals. Some data points are described with slightly inaccurate terminology, such as 'plouged' or 'proliferated', which affects the clarity of the reporting. To reach a higher band, ensure the overview highlights the most significant trends across the entire period rather than focusing on a single metal.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response is logically organized into an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs for each metal. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'In contrast', 'Initially', and 'Relatively', which help guide the reader. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and the paragraphing could be improved by grouping the metals more effectively to facilitate better comparisons. The referencing is generally clear, but the flow between sentences occasionally feels disjointed due to the repetitive structure of the descriptions.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task, but there are several instances of inappropriate word choice and spelling errors. For example, 'plouged' is not a standard term for a price decrease, 'proliferated' is used incorrectly to mean 'increased', and 'platued' is a misspelling of 'plateaued'. While the meaning is generally clear, these errors demonstrate a lack of precision. To improve, focus on using accurate collocations for describing trends, such as 'fluctuated', 'declined', or 'remained stable'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'become most plummeted metal' (should be 'became the metal with the sharpest decline') and 'at the end of time' (which is an unnatural collocation). Punctuation is also inconsistent, with missing spaces after periods. While the errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the data, they occur frequently enough to limit the score. Increasing the variety of error-free complex sentences would help improve this score.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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