Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-22

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 line graph provides information on various participants for different activities at one social centre in MElbourne, Australia between 2000 to 2020.

Overall, film club, table tennis, and musical performances rose gradually. While, in contrast amateur dramatics declined dramatically. Martial arts after some fluctuations, remained constant over period.

Firstly, film club remained highest in number of participants over the period. It started at approximately at 65 in 2000 and peaked at around 66 in the end of period. While table tenis was at around 18 from 2000 to 2010 but, after that it increased sharply hiting around at 54 in the end of period. After 2015 table tenis arised as second most popular activity followinfg the film club.

In beginning musical performances had zero performances till 2005, but after 2005 participants increased sharply and ended at around 18 in 2020.

In contrast, amateur dramatics participants decreased dramatically till 2020.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response attempts to cover all major trends shown in the graph, identifying the general direction for the different activities. However, there is a penalty applied because the response falls one word short of the 150-word minimum requirement. Furthermore, some data points contain minor inaccuracies, such as stating musical performances were zero 'till 2005' when the graph shows them starting in 2010. The overview captures some main trends, but the overall development is slightly disjointed and impacted by the strict length penalty.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response has an identifiable overall progression, beginning with an introduction, followed by an overview paragraph, and then body paragraphs detailing specific activities. However, paragraphing is fragmented, with very short sentences forming standalone paragraphs (e.g., 'In contrast, amateur dramatics participants decreased dramatically till 2020'). Cohesive devices are used, but sometimes mechanically or incorrectly, such as 'While, in contrast amateur dramatics declined', which creates awkward transitions. Referencing is generally clear, but the logical flow between sentences could be smoother to reach a higher band.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for describing trends, such as 'rose gradually', 'declined dramatically', and 'increased sharply'. However, there are several spelling and word formation errors, including 'tenis' instead of 'tennis', 'hiting' instead of 'hitting', 'arised' instead of 'rose' or 'emerged', and 'followinfg'. Collocations are occasionally imprecise, such as 'various participants for different activities' rather than 'participation numbers'. The lexical control demonstrates limitations typical of a Band 6 response.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The text contains a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some variety in structure. However, there are frequent grammatical errors and punctuation slips throughout the response, such as missing articles ('in beginning', 'at end of period'), incorrect prepositions ('at around approximately'), and comma splices or misplaced commas ('While, in contrast amateur dramatics declined'). While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur with sufficient frequency to prevent the essay from achieving a higher band score.

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

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