Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-09-14

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 chat compares the activities students do in their weekdays in 3 different countires including Japan, UK, and Germany.

Overall, Japan spend more time on studies as compare to UK and Germany, while they all spend least time on relaxing. By contrast, people of UK spend most of their in sleeping.

Sleeping was preferable choice of students in UK with 8.5 hours, studying was second priority with 8 hours. However they spen only 7 hours for relaxation. Students of Japan spend significantly time on studies with 13 hours which makes them more prominent. They only sleep for 7 hours while a least amount of time spend on relaxtion which is only 4 hours. It is the lowest time as compare to other countries.

Germany follow the schedule by spending 9 hpurse in studying, which is higher than UK. Germany spend one extra hour in sleeping as compared to Japan with 8 hours. Students relax for 7 hours which is equal to UK.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student successfully addresses all parts of the prompt by selecting and reporting the main features of the chart comparing students' weekdays in Japan, the UK, and Germany. An overview is provided, noting that Japanese students spend the most time on studies and relaxing the least, while UK students sleep the most. Key comparisons are made between the three countries with specific data points cited, such as '13 hours' for Japanese studies and '8.5 hours' for UK sleeping. However, the tone occasionally slips into an informal or imprecise narrative style ('people of UK spend most of their in sleeping'). While ideas are generally well selected, some data reporting could be more thoroughly synthesised to achieve higher bands. Therefore, this response meets the requirements for a Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response exhibits a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introductory paragraph followed by body paragraphs dedicated to specific countries. Logical progression is attempted, and paragraphs are used to structure the information. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. For instance, the transition between ideas relies on repetitive sentence structures ('Students of Japan spend...', 'Germany follow the schedule...'). Additionally, referencing and cohesive ties lack variety and flexibility (e.g., missing prepositions in phrases like 'spend most of their in sleeping'). Paragraphing is present but could be managed more skilfully to enhance the flow of comparisons. These factors place the response firmly in the Band 6 category.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating topic-specific terms like 'studying', 'relaxation', and 'schedule'. There are, however, noticeable spelling and word-choice errors, such as 'chat' instead of 'chart', 'countires' instead of 'countries', 'spen' instead of 'spent', 'hpurs' instead of 'hours', and 'relaxtion' instead of 'relaxation'. The student attempts less common vocabulary (e.g., 'prominent', 'preferable choice'), but these are occasionally inaccurate or awkwardly collocated. While these lexical errors do not impede overall communication, they restrict the lexical score to Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer employs a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as using subordinate clauses with 'while' and 'which' ('...while a least amount of time spend on relaxtion which is only 4 hours'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with verb tenses, subject-verb agreement, and prepositions ('Japan spend more time', 'spend least time', 'spend significantly time', 'time spend on'). Punctuation is generally acceptable, but grammatical inaccuracies occur throughout the response, occasionally causing slight strain for the reader. Because simple sentences are controlled better than complex ones, and errors are quite frequent, a Band 5.5 is appropriate.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.