Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-08-18

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 illustrates the changes in different activities of students on a weekend in three separate countries.

Overall, it is cleared that, sleeping demonstrated a slight variation in three countries UK, Japan and Germany. Moreover, relaxing activity variated moderately in all countries. By contrast, studying showed a significant variation among all the countries.

Looking more closely at the figures, sleeping is 8.5% in UK and 8% in Germany, while in Japan percentage of the sleeping activity has declined slowly to 7%. Furthermore, proportion of the relaxing is stable in both UK and Germany, which is 7%. In comparison, it is dropped gradually to the 4%.

Additionally, in UK, studying is done by people is about 8% and which is slightly raised to 9% in Germany. In comparison, studying is climbed sharply to 13% in Japan which is the lagging amount.

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 the report attempts to summarize the main features of the bar chart, the analysis is hampered by inaccuracies in data interpretation (e.g., describing a weekday chart as a 'weekend' chart). The overview is present but lacks sufficient detail to fully satisfy the requirements of an Academic Task 1 response. The information provided is somewhat underdeveloped, and the failure to reach the minimum length prevents a higher band score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or slightly unnatural, such as the repetitive use of 'In comparison' and 'Furthermore'. While there is an attempt at progression, the flow between sentences is occasionally disjointed. The referencing is sometimes unclear, and the overall logical development is hindered by the brevity of the response. Better use of linking words would improve the cohesion of the report.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks the precision expected at higher bands. There are several instances of awkward word choices and incorrect collocations, such as 'variated moderately' (should be 'varied') and 'lagging amount'. The student relies on basic descriptive terms and struggles to use more sophisticated vocabulary to describe trends or data points effectively. While the meaning is generally clear, the lack of variety and the presence of word-choice errors limit the score in this criterion.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede the flow. Examples include 'it is cleared that' (should be 'it is clear'), 'sleeping is 8.5%' (should be 'the percentage of time spent sleeping is 8.5%'), and 'studying is climbed sharply' (should be 'studying climbed sharply'). These errors in verb tense, passive voice construction, and article usage are noticeable throughout the text. A greater focus on grammatical accuracy and sentence structure variety is needed.

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

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