Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

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

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 bar chart shows 3 weekday activities that were sleeping, studying and relaxing and it compares the duration of students in UK, Japan and Germany.

Overall, Japan is shown as a country, where students study more and sleep less than students in Italy and Germany.

In UK, average time that students preferred to sleep was 8.5 hours, while studying for 8 hours and remaining 7 hours they used to relax.

Japanese students on other hand, slept least comapare to other 2 countries, that is only 7 hours, and were busy studying most of the time for 13 hours. Only 4 hours they kept for relaxing themselves, that is quite low.

German students kept there leisure hours similar to UK. but increased 1 hour and reduced 30 minutes for studying and sleeping respectively.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the chart’s three activities and compare all three countries, with several accurate figures: for example, UK students sleep for 8.5 hours, while Japanese students study for 13 hours and relax for 4. However, the overview is incomplete and includes a factual error: Japan is compared with “Italy,” which is not shown; the chart compares Japan with the UK and Germany. The German comparison is also unclear, and “increased 1 hour and reduced 30 minutes” does not specify which activities these changes refer to. The response is 132 words, below the required 150, so the summary is underdeveloped. Add a clearer overview of the main contrasts and report the German figures explicitly.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate comments on the UK, Japan and Germany. This makes the information generally easy to follow. Some links between ideas are effective, such as “while” when contrasting UK students’ activities and “on the other hand” before the Japanese figures. However, the final sentence is difficult to interpret because “increased 1 hour and reduced 30 minutes” does not clearly connect each change to an activity or comparison. The overview also moves directly into country comparisons without clearly summarising the chart’s main pattern. Use clearer references and organise the body around comparable figures, ensuring each comparison states what is being compared.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic vocabulary to communicate the main information, including “weekday activities,” “duration,” “average time,” and “leisure hours.” There are also attempts to vary expression, such as “kept for relaxing themselves.” However, several choices are unnatural or imprecise for describing a chart: “the duration of students” should refer to the time students spend on activities, and “busy studying most of the time” overstates the data. “Preferred to sleep” suggests a choice or preference that the chart does not establish. Spelling errors such as “comapare” and “there” also reduce accuracy. Aim for precise reporting language and standard collocations, for example, “spent eight hours studying” and “allocated seven hours to relaxation.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mixture of simple and more complex sentences, including a contrast with “while” and a relative clause in “a country, where students study more.” The main comparisons are usually understandable, but some grammatical errors affect clarity. For example, “students in UK” needs an article, and “Japanese students on other hand” also needs “the.” The phrase “Only 4 hours they kept for relaxing themselves” has an awkward word order, while “German students kept there leisure hours similar to UK” contains unclear sentence construction and missing articles. The final sentence also lacks a clear grammatical link between the changes and the activities. Practise accurate article use and build comparisons with complete, parallel clauses.

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

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