Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-08-21

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 typical weekday distribution for sleeping, studying and relaxing in three nations.

Overall, the bar depicts the spending criteria of three countries. Japanese students spend their major time for study. However, British and german students invest their time similar for relaxation.

Examining the details of UK students, who invest their major time for sleeping at around 8.5 hour. Similarly, study cover 8 hour, indicating a similar pattern for sleep and study. However, British student spend their 7 hour for relaxing.

In Japan, the highest proportion is for studying around 13 hour, showing a sharp learning pattern among other nations. While, only 7 and 4 hours are investing for sleep and relax for each, it indicating a meagre time for a leisure.

Germany follow similar pattern as a UK with minimal changes at 8 hours for sleep and 9 hours for study as well as relaxation time is same for both countries students.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers the main features of the bar chart, including comparisons between the three countries. However, the data reporting is occasionally inaccurate; for example, the text states Japanese students spend 13 hours studying, while the chart shows 9, and the claim that British and German students spend the same amount of time relaxing is not fully supported by the visual data. While the overview is present, it is somewhat simplistic. To reach a higher band, ensure that data points are transcribed accurately and that the overview highlights the most significant trends rather than just listing countries.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. There is an attempt to use cohesive devices such as 'However', 'Similarly', and 'While', but these are sometimes used mechanically or incorrectly, such as the awkward transition 'While, only 7 and 4 hours are investing'. The progression of ideas is generally clear, but the lack of sophisticated linking words and occasional awkward phrasing limits the flow. Improving the variety of cohesive devices and ensuring they are used naturally would enhance the overall coherence.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks variety and precision. There is frequent repetition of basic verbs like 'spend', 'invest', and 'cover'. Some word choices are unnatural, such as 'spending criteria' and 'sharp learning pattern'. Additionally, there are minor errors in word formation, such as 'german' (should be capitalized) and 'relax' used as a noun instead of 'relaxation'. To improve, you should aim to use a wider range of synonyms and more precise collocations related to data description, such as 'allocate time', 'proportion', or 'significant difference'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response uses a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('British student spend', 'Germany follow'), incorrect verb forms ('are investing for sleep'), and missing articles. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to be noticeable. To improve, focus on mastering basic subject-verb agreement and ensuring consistent tense usage when describing data. Increasing the variety of complex sentence structures while maintaining accuracy will also help raise your score.

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

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