Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-14

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 given charts consist of information regarding the age of the members, total number of books loan out with their respective categories in Little Chalfont Library.

Firstly, we can see that the majority of books are borrowed by the adults followed by the children and then the remaining to the teenagers and adults between 65 and over.

The 38% of books lended out belongs to the genre of children's fiction and adult fiction.

Furthermore, the number of novels provided by the library varies over the years. Starting from

15,100 in 2007, remained stable for [redacted phone] and slightly fell in 2013, however again increases to 21,000 by 2016.

In conclusion, the data gives us a jist about at what rate, people are borrowing the books and which category of people are most interested in reading by the number of books borrowed given below.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student attempts to address the task by summarizing the provided charts about the Little Chalfont Library, mentioning age groups, book categories, and general trends over the years. However, the response falls short of the 150-word minimum length requirement, containing only 142 words, which directly impacts the task achievement score. Furthermore, some data points are generalized or imprecise (e.g., claiming 38% belongs to children's and adult fiction combined without fully clarifying the specific breakdown). While main features are touched upon, the lack of full development and the under-length penalty restrict the score to a Band 5.5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The text demonstrates a basic overall arrangement with paragraph breaks used to separate different aspects of the visual data. Cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Furthermore', and 'In conclusion' are employed to structure the response, though some of these transitional phrases are used somewhat mechanically. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as 'the remaining to the teenagers and adults', which disrupts smooth progression. Paragraphing is present, but overall the logical flow between ideas lacks seamless integration, placing this aspect firmly in the Band 6.0 category.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with domain-specific terms like 'genre', 'fiction', and 'novels'. However, there are notable word choice and collocation inaccuracies throughout the text, such as 'books loan out' instead of 'books loaned out' or 'books lent out', and 'lended out' (lended is non-standard; lent is correct). Phrases like 'gives us a jist' contain spelling errors ('jist' instead of 'gist'). The range of vocabulary is somewhat limited and repetitive, which prevents the score from exceeding Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as the introductory relative clause and participial phrases like 'Starting from 15,100 in 2007...'. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('increases to 21,000' following past tense clauses) and missing prepositions or articles (e.g., 'the remaining to the teenagers'). Punctuation and phrasing around complex dates also show awkwardness. Because these errors occur regularly alongside a basic mix of structures, a Band 5.5 is appropriate.

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

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