Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-13
IELTS Writing Task 1 question
The bar chart below shows the percentage of Australian men and women in different age groups who did regular physical activity in 2010.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Student answer (Band 5.0)
The bar chart below shows the ratio of australian men and women in different age groups who did regular physical activity in 2010:
At the age of 15 -24 52.8% of males did regular physical activity whereas 47.7% of females performed regular physical activity. Whereas at the age of 25-34 42.2% of males prefferred to do physical activity whereas 48.9% of females did regular physical activity.
On the other hand, at the age of 35- 44 39.5% of males did regular physical activity whereas 52.5% of females performed regular physical activity ,
moving forward, at the age of 45 - 54 43.1% of males did regular physical activity whereas in the same age group 53.3% of females did regular physical activity meanwhile at the age of 55- 64 45.1% of males did regular physical activity whereas 53% of females performed regular physical activity. At the age of 65 and over, 46.7% of males did regular physical activity whereas 47.1% of women did regular physical activity.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response attempts to cover the main features of the bar chart across the various age groups, providing specific percentages for both males and females. However, the report lacks an essential overview of the main trends or overall patterns, which is a key requirement for achieving a higher band in Academic Task 1. Furthermore, the writing relies heavily on a mechanical listing of data points rather than selecting and reporting significant comparisons. For example, the student writes, 'at the age of 15 -24 52.8% of males did regular physical activity whereas 47.7% of females performed regular physical activity,' without grouping data or highlighting broader trends, such as the inversion of participation rates between genders as age increases. This places the response firmly in Band 5.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The response is organized into paragraphs, but the paragraphing is poor, featuring awkward breaks and run-on sentences, such as the long final paragraph starting with 'moving forward'. The use of cohesive devices is repetitive and mechanical, relying excessively on transition phrases like 'whereas' and 'meanwhile' to link disjointed clauses. For instance, the second paragraph is a single overly long sentence stuffed with multiple 'whereas' clauses, which impairs the flow of information. There is no clear logical progression guiding the reader through the data in a structured manner. Referencing is sometimes unclear, and the overall structure lacks a cohesive overview or concluding summary, resulting in a Band 5 performance.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is largely repetitive and basic, relying heavily on exact phrase repetition such as 'did regular physical activity' and 'performed regular physical activity' throughout the text. There is also a spelling error ('prefferred') and capitalization mistakes, such as 'australian'. While the numbers are transcribed accurately, the writer demonstrates a very limited range of lexical items to describe data, failing to use synonyms or more sophisticated vocabulary related to statistical trends. The lexical resource is minimally adequate for the task, but the lack of variety and occasional inaccuracies restrict the score to Band 5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response demonstrates a very limited range of grammatical structures, consisting primarily of repetitive compound sentences linked by 'whereas'. There are noticeable punctuation errors, including missing full stops, incorrect spacing around hyphens ('15 -24', '35- 44'), and capitalization issues ('australian'). Although some complex sentence structures are attempted through comparative clauses, they are often clunky and poorly punctuated, leading to run-on sentences. Frequent errors in punctuation and sentence boundaries cause some difficulty for the reader, but communication of the basic numerical data remains largely intact, justifying a Band 5 score.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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