Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

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

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The charts below give information on the location and types of dance classes young people in a town in Australia are currently attending.

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

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The pie chart and the bar chart presents the information of the dance classes of people under 16 in a town in Australia, detailing the locations and types of dances.

Overall, the biggest percentages of students chose to use private studios for learning dance, and the least number of students goes to the college based studios. The largest number of dance students are under 11. Ballet dance is the most popular type of dance, while tap and modern dance has quite the same number of students.

Private stuidos has the greatest number of students, which is 48%. The after school dance classes at the school halls has the second most popularity with 24% students. The community halls & other type of medium, and the college based studios has 18% and 10% of the students, respectively.

The ballet dance has just around 600 students under 11 age and approximately 300 students age between 11 to 16, total 900 students, becoming the most popular dance type. Tap dance has nearly 450 students, and just above 420 students of age group under 11 and age group 11-16 resepectively. The modern dance has 300 students of age under 11 and almost 510 students of age group of 11 to 16. The number of students under 11 age is almost 1350 and for age group 11-16, it is around 1230.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student successfully covers all parts of the task by reporting on both the location of dance classes and the types of dance classes by age group. An overview is provided, highlighting key features such as the dominance of private studios and ballet, though the overview contains a minor factual inaccuracy regarding total student numbers across categories. Data points are cited directly from the charts, such as 'private studios' at 48% and ballet having approximately 600 students under 11. Comparisons are made where relevant, and the main trends are adequately captured. However, the breakdown of data could be slightly more synthesised rather than listing individual data points exhaustively. Overall, the response meets the requirements for a Band 6.5 to 7.0, showing a clear attempt to cover all visual data elements accurately.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is arranged logically with a clear overall progression. Paragraphing is utilised adequately to separate the introduction, overview, location data, and dance type data. Cohesive devices are employed to link ideas, such as 'Overall,' 'Private studios has,' and 'The ballet dance has,' although some transitions feel a bit mechanical or repetitive. Referencing is generally clear, though minor errors in cohesion occur (e.g., 'the community halls & other type of medium'). Paragraphs have clear central topics, moving systematically from general proportions to specific figures. To reach a higher band, the student should employ a wider and more flexible range of cohesive devices and ensure seamless transitions between sentences.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary appropriate for the task, incorporating terms like 'popularity,' 'proportion,' and age groups. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors, such as 'stuidos' for studios, 'presents' instead of 'present' (subject-verb agreement), and awkward phrasing like 'tap and modern dance has quite the same number of students' and 'type of medium.' Less common vocabulary is attempted with mixed success. While the lexical range is sufficient to communicate the main features of the charts clearly, the recurring slips prevent the score from reaching Band 7.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

A mix of simple and complex sentence structures is used throughout the essay. The student demonstrates control over basic sentence patterns, but grammatical errors are frequent. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('The pie chart and the bar chart presents,' 'Private stuidos has,' 'The community halls... has'), incorrect prepositions or modifiers ('students age between 11 to 16'), and typographical mistakes ('resepectively'). Although these errors do not impede overall communication, they occur regularly enough to restrict the score to a Band 6.0. The writer would benefit from careful proofreading to eliminate basic slip-ups in agreement and spelling.

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

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