Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-08-07

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The charts below give information about a public library in a town called Little Chalfont.

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

 

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The diagram and chart illustrated how people of different age groups loaned books of different categories from the library, in the year 2016. The pie chart illustrated that 51% of the loaners are adults, 15% are young adults, 12% are adults with age greater then and equal to 65, and remaining 22% are children. The table demonstrated that children and adults are loaning books in fiction genre majorly, adult non-fiction is the second highest loaned genre, children's DVDs and Adult audio books are negligible at 1 and 2 percent respectively. The column chart at the end explains the trend of book loaning over 10 years. 2007 was lowest at just over 15000 while 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2016 were all over 20,000 books loaned. 2008, 2009, and 2013 were all near 20,000 books loaned, the trend shows that while most people didn't had mobile phones with touch screen back in 2007, they didn't loaned books very often, it could be due to them reading it in library or just not be more interested in them.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

You have successfully identified the main features of the charts, including the age demographics, genre preferences, and the ten-year loan trend. However, the response lacks a clear overview or summary statement that synthesizes the data. The final sentence includes irrelevant speculation about mobile phones, which is not supported by the provided data and detracts from the objective nature of an Academic Task 1 report. To improve, ensure you group data logically rather than listing figures sequentially, and avoid introducing external information that is not present in the charts.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The response is organized into a single paragraph, which makes it difficult to follow the transition between the three different charts. Using separate paragraphs for the pie chart, table, and column chart would significantly improve the logical flow. While you use some cohesive devices like 'while' and 'the trend shows that', the overall structure is somewhat mechanical. Referencing is generally clear, but the lack of paragraphing limits the ability to demonstrate a sophisticated range of cohesive devices.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'negligible', 'genre', and 'demographics' appropriately. However, there are some word choice errors, such as 'loaners' (should be 'borrowers') and 'loaning' (should be 'borrowing'). Additionally, the phrase 'greater then and equal to' is slightly awkward. To reach a higher band, focus on using more precise terminology for data reporting and ensure collocations are accurate.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are several grammatical errors that occur throughout the text. For example, 'didn't had' should be 'didn't have', and 'didn't loaned' should be 'didn't loan'. There are also issues with tense consistency, as you mix present and past tenses when describing historical data. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. Focus on subject-verb agreement and consistent tense usage.

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