Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-16

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 combination of a pie chart, a data table, and a bar graph displays information about the public library in a town called Little Chalfont. The pie chart denotes the percentage of different age ranges of the library members. The data table gives information about the total loans of the issued items in terms of percentages and according to different categories. Whereas the bar chart graphically demonstrates the variation in the total number of loans in the period from 2007 to 2016.

Overall, adults of age ranging from 18 to 64 years are the highest loan takers in year 2016. The highest loaned category of the items are children's fiction and adult fiction. The peak in the number of items loaned is observed in the year 2016.

In the pie chart, it can be clearly seen that adults aged 18 to 64 years constitute more than 50 per cent of the other age groups of library members. Whereas the lowest are adults aged 65 years and over, at about 12 per cent of the total.

The children's DVDs are the least loaned items from the library, and highest are the adults and childrens non fiction.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the three visual types and give a brief overview, correctly noting that adults aged 18–64 form the largest membership group and that children’s and adult fiction are the leading loan categories. However, several key details are missing or inaccurate. The age chart shows adults aged 65 and over at 12%, but the smallest group is actually this group only narrowly; young adults are 15%, while children are 22%. More importantly, the response does not describe the loan trend across 2007–2016, despite claiming that 2016 is the peak. The table’s largest categories are children’s fiction and adult fiction, both at 38%; the final claim that adult and children’s non-fiction are highest is incorrect. Covering the trend and reporting the categories accurately would make the summary more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and paragraphs referring to the age chart and loan categories. This gives the reader some organisation, and phrases such as “Overall” and “In the pie chart” help signal the focus. However, progression is limited because the final paragraph introduces the loan categories without developing the earlier discussion of the bar chart, and the trend from 2007 to 2016 is not explained. “Whereas” is also used to begin sentence fragments in the introduction and age paragraph, so the links between ideas are not always smooth. Grouping the age figures, category shares, and loan trend into clearly developed sections, with accurate comparisons, would strengthen the overall flow.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of task-related vocabulary, including “percentage,” “categories,” “variation,” and “constitute,” and the reader can generally understand what each visual presents. There are also attempts at more formal phrasing, such as “graphically demonstrates.” Some choices are awkward or imprecise, however: “highest loan takers” does not accurately describe the age chart, which shows membership rather than borrowing, and “total loans of the issued items” is unnatural. “The highest loaned category” is also an unclear construction. Use standard chart language such as “accounted for,” “share,” and “number of loans,” and distinguish carefully between members and loans. These refinements would make the vocabulary more precise and natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response includes both simple statements and longer sentences, and most of the meaning remains understandable. However, some sentence structures are incomplete or awkward. “Whereas the bar chart graphically demonstrates…” is a dependent clause presented as a sentence, and “Whereas the lowest are adults…” has the same problem. In “The highest loaned category of the items are…,” the singular subject “category” does not agree with “are”; the sentence also needs a clearer structure. The opening sentence of the overview would be more accurate grammatically as “Adults aged 18 to 64 made up the largest group of members in 2016.” Aim to connect dependent clauses to a main clause and check subject–verb agreement when revising.

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

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