Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-02

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 participation in five different activities at a social centre in Melbourne, Australia between 2000 to 2020.

Overall, film club showed the highest particpation throughout the period. Martial arts participants fluctuated. Table tennis players experienced substantial growth while amater dramatics declined. Althouhg, musical performance was the least attractive activity initially, which ended the second last.

Fiilm club attracted the highest numbers of particpant, starting around 65 in 2000, and remained constant throughout the period despite a slight dip apperoximatly 60 particpants in 2010 before recovering to around 65. Amateur dramatics started with almost 35 particpants in 2000 and hovered between 30 and 40 through 2 decades.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response addresses the main task by identifying several key trends, such as the film club having the highest participation and table tennis experiencing growth, while also providing an overview. However, the word count falls significantly short of the minimum requirement, which limits the overall scope of the response. Furthermore, some of the reported data contains inaccuracies when compared to the visual data; for example, the student states that amateur dramatics started with almost 35 participants and hovered between 30 and 40, whereas the graph shows it started at 26 and declined sharply to 6 by the end of the period. To reach higher bands, the response must meet the length requirement, provide a more complete summary of all data series, and ensure all reported figures are entirely accurate.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response demonstrates a basic overall progression and attempts to organise the information logically with an introductory statement, an overview paragraph, and body details. However, paragraphing is underdeveloped, and the transition between ideas is sometimes abrupt. Cohesive devices are used, but there are instances of awkward phrasing and mechanical links, such as 'Althouhg, musical performance was...'. Referencing and logical sequencing within the body paragraphs require better control, particularly as the student abruptly shifts between different activities and incorrectly groups data. To improve, you should ensure that paragraphs are fully formed with clear topical focus and that cohesive devices are used more naturally to connect contrasting and supporting data points smoothly.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for the task, successfully attempting less common items and topic-specific terms such as 'participation', 'fluctuated', and 'substantial growth'. However, there are notable lexical issues, including multiple spelling mistakes like 'particpation', 'amater', 'Althouhg', 'Fiilm', 'particpant', and 'apperoximatly'. Word choice is also occasionally imprecise, such as describing musical performance as ending 'the second last'. These errors do not entirely impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score. To achieve a higher band, you need to expand your range of vocabulary, use less common lexical items with greater precision, and carefully check your spelling before finalising your writing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The response displays a mix of simple and some complex sentence forms, demonstrating a reasonable attempt at sentence variety with structures like 'while amater dramatics declined' and 'despite a slight dip apperoximatly 60 particpants'. There are some grammatical errors and punctuation issues present, such as comma splices and preposition omissions (e.g., 'between 2000 to 2020' instead of 'between 2000 and 2020'), but these errors rarely impede communication and the meaning generally remains clear. To move up to the next band, you should incorporate a wider variety of complex grammatical structures with greater accuracy, ensuring that verb tenses, prepositions, and sentence boundaries are controlled more consistently throughout the text.

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

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