Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-08-04

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 provided bar chart illustrates the weekdays utilise by students in doing three different activities such as, sleeping, studying, and relaxing in three distinct countries including Japan, The UK, and Germany.

Overall, it is clear that students spend most of their weekdays in studying in all countries; however, minimum days are given to relaxing.

In terms of studying, Japan stool first with 13 days, followed by Germany accounted for 9 days. The UK stood third with 8 days allocated to study.

Regarding sleeping, the UK had the highest share, along with that Germany was just 0.5 days lower than UK. Japan had the lowest figure at around 7.

In contrast, students do not have enough days to relax making around 7 days in both Germany and the UK, whereas Japan witnessed the lowest figure at about 4.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 150 words, which significantly impacts the task achievement score. While you have identified the main features of the chart, the analysis is quite brief and lacks the depth required for a higher band. You have successfully selected and reported the main features, such as Japan's high study time and the general trend of studying being the primary activity. However, the under-length nature of the response means that the comparison of data is not fully developed. To improve, ensure you provide a more comprehensive overview and include more detailed comparisons between the three countries to reach the required length and depth.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the information. You use some cohesive devices, such as 'In terms of', 'Regarding', and 'In contrast', to transition between ideas. However, the flow is occasionally mechanical, and the paragraphing is somewhat basic. The progression of ideas is clear, but the lack of sufficient length makes the overall structure feel underdeveloped. To improve, try to use a wider variety of linking words and ensure that your sentences are connected more fluidly to create a more cohesive and professional-sounding report.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, but it lacks the range and precision expected at higher levels. You use terms like 'stool first' (which is an error for 'stood first') and 'witnessed the lowest figure', which are slightly unnatural in this context. There is some repetition of basic structures and vocabulary. To improve, focus on using more precise academic collocations and synonyms to describe data trends. For example, instead of saying 'stool first', you could use 'ranked highest' or 'recorded the highest figure'. Expanding your range of descriptive verbs and nouns will help you achieve a higher score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are several grammatical errors that affect the quality of the writing. For instance, 'weekdays utilise by students' should be 'weekdays utilised by students', and 'Japan stool first' is an incorrect verb choice. There are also issues with preposition usage and article placement, such as 'in studying' instead of 'on studying'. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to limit your score. Focus on proofreading your work to correct basic subject-verb agreement and prepositional errors to improve your accuracy.

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

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