Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-11-05

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The bar chart shows the typical weekday for students in three different countries.

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

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The column graph illustrates the weekday for a number of students from three different nations, namely, UK, Japan, and Germany.

Overall, the graph shows the proprtionate of students sleeping, studying and relaxing in three different countries. In UK, 8.5 percent of students sleep, 8 percent do study and 7 percent prefer relaxing in the day. Similarly, in Japan, 7 percent of students like to sleep, the highest percentage is of the students who are more likely to study and that is 13 percent, higher than both in UK and Germany, and 4 percent of them do relax. Thirdly, in Germany, 8 percent students like sleeping, 9 percent study and 7 percent do prefer relaxing, which is same as in UK.

Among the three countries, the number of students studying decrease Japan, Germany, and UK, respectively. However, the the sleeping and relaxing proportion first decreased and then increased from UK through Germany, both.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You report the main categories and give the figures for all three countries, and the comparison that Japanese students study the most is accurate. However, the overview is not clearly separated from the detailed reporting, and the description of the overall patterns is partly inaccurate: sleeping does not decrease and then increase from the UK through Germany, since it falls from 8.5 in the UK to 7 in Japan and rises to 8 in Germany. Relaxing follows a similar pattern, but the final sentence does not make the country sequence clear. Also, these figures represent hours in a typical weekday, not percentages. A more precise overview should identify Japan’s unusually high study time and its lower sleeping and relaxing figures, then accurately summarise the other comparisons.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable sequence: an introduction, a general statement, country-by-country details, and a final comparison. This gives the reader some organisation, and transitions such as “Similarly,” “Thirdly,” and “However” help connect points. However, the overview is mixed with detailed figures rather than clearly summarising the main features, while the final comparison repeats information and is difficult to follow. The phrase “Among the three countries, the number of students studying decrease Japan, Germany, and UK” does not clearly express the intended ranking. The closing sentence also uses “both” without a clear reference. Grouping the figures by activity and using explicit comparisons would create a more logical progression and clearer cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant task vocabulary, including “column graph,” “proportion,” “studying,” and “relaxing,” and the reader can generally understand the comparisons. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate. “The weekday for a number of students” does not naturally describe what the chart presents, and “the proportionate of students” is not a correct expression. Repeated phrases such as “students like to sleep” and “do prefer relaxing” are less suitable for formal data reporting. There is also a spelling error in “proprtionate.” Use concise reporting language and accurate units: for example, “hours spent sleeping” rather than “percent of students sleep.” This would make the description more precise and appropriately academic.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more extended sentences, including comparisons with “higher than both in UK and Germany.” However, errors in sentence construction and agreement sometimes make the meaning unclear. For example, “the number of students studying decrease Japan, Germany, and UK” lacks a clear grammatical structure and has incorrect subject–verb agreement; “the the sleeping” contains a repeated article; and “8 percent students” is missing an article or other determiner. The sentence beginning “Overall” also joins several ideas in a way that is difficult to control. Practise building accurate comparison structures, such as “Study time was highest in Japan, followed by Germany and the UK,” and check articles, agreement, and punctuation when editing.

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