Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-28
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 illustrates the number of participants for multiple activities at one social centre in Melbourne, Australia between 2000 and 2020.
Overall, the number of participants in table tennis and musical performance increased steadily, while the number of participants in film club, martial arts and amateur dramatics decreased dramatically over the period.
In 2000, the number of participants in table tennis started at from about 17 in 2000 to approximately 55 in 2020. Moreover, there was no change from 2000 to 2005, but the number of participants in musical performance increased steadily over one and a half decades from 0 in 2005 to about 18 in 2020. Furthermore, there were fluctuations in martial arts over the two decades from approximately 37 in 2000 to 38 in 2020.
In contrast, the number of participants in the film club decreased from approximately 65 in 2000 to 60 in 2010. After 2010, it increased steadily from approximately 60 to 69 in 2020. Furthermore, the number of participants in amateur dramatics gradually increased over half a decade from about 27 in 2000 to approximately 29 in 2005, and dramatically decreased over one and a half decades from about 29 in 2005 to approximately 8 in 2020.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0
The student successfully addresses all parts of the prompt by providing an overview of the main trends and selecting key data points to report and compare across the five activities. The overview accurately identifies that table tennis and musical performances experienced upward trends, whereas the film club, martial arts, and amateur dramatics saw overall declines or fluctuations. However, there are some minor factual inaccuracies regarding the specific trajectory of the film club; the student states it 'decreased... to 60 in 2010... [and] increased steadily... to 69 in 2020', whereas the graph shows it at 66 in 2020. Additionally, the description of table tennis contains a phrasing error ('started at from about 17'). Despite these minor data reading slips, the overall response covers the task adequately and highlights the primary features of the graph well.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The response is logically organised into four distinct paragraphs, featuring an introduction, an overall summary, and two body paragraphs grouping the activities by trend. Cohesive devices are used to connect ideas, such as 'Overall', 'In 2000', 'Moreover', and 'In contrast'. Paragraphing is handled appropriately, ensuring that the information flows reasonably well from general statements to specific figures. However, referencing and progression are occasionally hampered by awkward transitional phrasing within sentences, such as 'started at from about 17 in 2000 to approximately 55 in 2020', which mixes starting points and end points confusingly. Overall cohesion is clear, but could be smoother and more precise to reach a higher band.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for task 1, successfully employing terms such as 'illustrates', 'steadily', 'decreased dramatically', and 'fluctuations'. Less common lexical items are attempted, such as 'approximately' and 'gradually'. However, there are noticeable lexical inaccuracies and awkward collocations, such as 'started at from about 17' (confusing starting point prepositional structures) and referring to musical performances in the singular ('musical performance'). Spelling is generally accurate, but the occasional word-choice slips restrict the lexical score to band 6.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The response displays a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, utilising subordinate clauses and prepositional phrases (e.g., 'while the number of participants in film club... decreased dramatically over the period'). There are several grammatical errors and awkward structures, notably 'started at from about 17 in 2000 to approximately 55 in 2020', which lacks a proper completion of the 'from... to...' structure. Other minor issues include missing articles ('in film club' instead of 'in the film club'). Nevertheless, these errors do not impede communication, and the meaning remains clear throughout the text, aligning well with the descriptors for Band 6.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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