Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-10

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The graph below gives information on the numbers of participants for different activities at one social centre in Melbourne, Australia for the period 2000 to 2020.

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

 

 

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The given graph provides information about the numbers of individuals for distinct activities held at one social centre in Melbourne, Australia for the given duration between 2000 and 2020.

Overall, people were enthusiastic for film club for 2 decades, while musical performances were least favoured for almost 15 years.

There are no significant changes were seen in the number of participants in film club and martial arts, reported 60-70 and 30-40 participants respectively during the year 2000 - 2020. Whereas, Amateur dramatics was the only activity that drastically declined from almost 25 participants to below 10.

Number of participants in table tennis were almost steady at 20 during first decade, however showed a massive increase from 20 to 50 participants by the end of

2020. And same for the musical performance, struggling during year [redacted phone] with no participants then gradual increase from 0 to more than 10 by the end of 2020.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response covers all key features of the graph, including the trends for all five activities. You successfully identified the main trends, such as the stability of the film club and the decline of amateur dramatics. However, the analysis could be more precise; for instance, stating 'no significant changes' for martial arts is slightly inaccurate as the graph shows a clear upward trend from 30 to 40. To reach a higher band, ensure that data points are described with greater accuracy and that comparisons between categories are more explicitly linked to the provided figures.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs that group the activities effectively. You use some cohesive devices like 'whereas' and 'however' to link ideas. However, the transition between sentences is sometimes mechanical, and the paragraphing could be improved by separating the overview more distinctly from the body. Additionally, some referencing is slightly unclear, such as the phrase 'And same for the musical performance', which lacks a formal cohesive link to the previous sentence.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'enthusiastic', 'drastically declined', and 'massive increase'. There are some minor inaccuracies in word choice, such as 'people were enthusiastic for film club', which is slightly informal for an Academic Task 1 report. Furthermore, the phrasing 'numbers of individuals for distinct activities' is a bit clunky. To improve, focus on using more precise academic collocations and avoiding repetitive sentence structures when describing trends.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors that hinder the flow, such as 'There are no significant changes were seen', which is a double verb construction. Another error is 'Number of participants in table tennis were', where the subject-verb agreement is incorrect (it should be 'was'). While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and avoiding redundant auxiliary verbs will significantly improve your accuracy.

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

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