Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-09

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 4.5)

The chart shows the average change in the prices of three metals during 2014. The three metals was copper, nickel and zinc. This is line chart. The chart was show the price changes during 2014.

In January, copper was 2 percentage after that was goes down. Nickel was 6 percentage after that was goes down. Zinc was 1 percentage after that was goes up in february but after that was goes down. In march, copper was under 1 percentage, nickel was 1 percentage and zinc was 2 percentage. In april, copper and nickel was same as previous months but zinc was 1.5 percentage that was down compare to previous month. In may, copper was under 0 percentage, nickel was under 1 percentage and zinc was 1 percentage. In june, copper was same as previous month, nickel was -3 percentage and zinc was -1 percentage. In july,augest and september, copper was 1 percentage, nickel was -1 percentage and zinc was between 0 to -1 percentage.In December, copper was between 1 to 2 percentage, nickel was 1 percentage and zinc was 2 percentage.

The highest percentage was 6 percentage of nickel, 2 percentage of copper in january and 3 percentage of zinc in february.The lowest percentage was -3 percentage of nickel in june, between 0 to -1 percentage of copper in may and july and -1 percentage of zinc in june.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response4.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.0
Lexical Resource4.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy4.5
Overall4.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

You identify all three metals and report several relevant figures, including nickel’s January peak of 6%, its June low of -3%, and zinc’s February high of 3%. However, the response mainly lists monthly values rather than selecting and summarising the most important patterns. There is no clear overview of the broad movement: all three metals fall around May–June, then generally recover toward the end of the year. Some details are inaccurate or incomplete: copper is reported as 1% in July, August and September, but the chart shows 1% for those months; the phrase “between 0 to -1 percentage” is unclear, and the account omits the November changes. A concise overview and more accurate comparisons would make the report more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response follows a broadly chronological order, so readers can track the figures from January through the middle of the year and then to December. The final sentence also attempts to compare the highest and lowest values. However, the information is presented largely as one long paragraph, with repeated month-by-month statements and little grouping of related trends. Connectors such as “after that” and “but after that” are repetitive, and the shift from September to December leaves October and November unexplained. Use separate paragraphs for an overview and the main details, and group months or metals by shared patterns. This would create clearer progression rather than a sequence of loosely connected observations.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

You use basic task-related vocabulary such as “change,” “prices,” “highest,” and “lowest,” and the metal names are clear. However, the range is limited and several phrases are unnatural or imprecise, which makes the report sound repetitive. For example, “6 percentage” and “2 percentage” should be expressed as “6%” or “a 6% change,” while “was under 1 percentage” does not clearly communicate a value below 1%. Repeated use of “goes down” also limits precision when describing trends. Build a small set of accurate chart verbs and comparison phrases, such as “fell,” “remained stable,” “recovered,” and “peaked at,” and use them consistently.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The response communicates many individual figures through simple sentences, but grammatical errors occur frequently and sometimes make relationships between values difficult to follow. Examples include “The three metals was,” “The chart was show,” and “after that was goes down”; these show problems with agreement, verb forms and sentence construction. In “In april, copper and nickel was same,” the verb does not agree with the plural subject, and the sentence is missing an article or other grammatical structure. Punctuation and spacing are also inconsistent, particularly in the long sentence beginning “In july,augest and september.” Practise accurate past-tense reporting and build complete sentences before attempting longer comparisons.

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