Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-03
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)
Writing Task 1
The pie charts compares the proportion of people is spending on different commodities and services in a particular European Country in two different years: 1958 and 2008.
Overall, housing accounted for the largest share in 2008 and Clothing accounted highest trend in 1958. Interestingly, Food increased with significant growth in 2008.
In details, the housing had a signific share of 32% proportion of people's spending on different commodities and services. As entertainment and Food were slightly stable at commodities and services in 2008 at 16% and 17%. Similarly luxury goods were 17% of proportion at spendings in 2008. In contrast, travelling and clothing were gradually fell at 6% and 12% in 2008. While, Clothing was the highest at spendings on different services with 32% proportion in 1958. In addition housing was second largest share with 22% in 1958 and 18% of Entertain share in 1958. As Food and luxury goods were similar shares with 6% to 7% in 1958. Interestingly, transport shared only 7% in 1958.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response covers the main features of the charts and makes relevant comparisons between the two years. However, there are significant inaccuracies in the data reporting. For example, you state that 'Food increased with significant growth in 2008', but the data shows it decreased from 22% to 17%. Similarly, you mention 'travelling' and 'luxury goods' in ways that do not accurately reflect the provided categories or figures. While you identify the main trends, the misinterpretation of the data points significantly impacts the accuracy of the summary. To improve, ensure you carefully cross-reference the labels and percentages before writing.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organised into an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs, which provides a logical structure. You use some cohesive devices like 'In contrast', 'Similarly', and 'In addition' to link ideas. However, the progression of information is sometimes confusing due to the data inaccuracies mentioned above. The use of referencing is occasionally unclear, such as 'As entertainment and Food were slightly stable at commodities and services in 2008'. The paragraphing is sufficient, but the internal flow within paragraphs could be improved by grouping related data more effectively rather than listing figures in a disjointed manner.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task, but there are frequent errors in word choice and collocation. Phrases like 'signific share' (should be 'significant'), 'Entertain share' (should be 'entertainment'), and 'proportion of people's spending on different commodities' are repetitive and sometimes imprecise. You attempt to use some topic-specific vocabulary, but the misuse of terms like 'commodities' and 'services' (which are not clearly defined in the prompt) limits the precision of your writing. Focus on using more accurate terminology to describe trends and proportions.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Examples include 'The pie charts compares' (subject-verb agreement error), 'Clothing accounted highest trend' (missing preposition), and 'gradually fell at 6%' (incorrect preposition). There are also issues with sentence fragments and awkward phrasing, such as 'As Food and luxury goods were similar shares with 6% to 7% in 1958'. While the meaning is generally understandable, the frequency of these errors prevents the response from reaching a higher band.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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