Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-09-28

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 depicts the typical weekday between three countries students.

Overall, Japanese students studies most followed by Germany and UK students. UK and Germany students shows same trend in studying while Japanese relax least among all. UK students sleep the most followed by Germany and Japan.

Japanese students shows extreme trends in both studying and relaxing. In studying they are on top with 13 hours while in relaxing they are on lower side. In sleeping they are just slight behind both UK and Germany students with 7 hours.

UK and Germany students just shows average weak day in all. UK students sleep most among all three. In relaxing, both shows same trend as both spend 7 hours relaxing. Germany students study more time than UK students. As Germany students study for 9 hours and UK students study least hours as compared to other two countries in the bar chart.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response successfully covers all parts of the task by reporting the main features of the bar chart and making relevant comparisons across the three countries. The student accurately identifies the key extremes, such as Japanese students spending 13 hours studying and only 4 hours relaxing, alongside the sleeping and studying patterns for the UK and Germany. An overview is present at the beginning of the body paragraph, capturing the main trends. However, there are some inaccuracies in reporting specific figures, such as stating that Japanese students sleep 7 hours (the chart shows 7 for Japan, but UK is 8.5 and Germany is 8, which the student captures relatively well) and minor errors in data interpretation. Overall, the content is sufficient to meet the requirements of a Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response is organized into an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs that attempt to group information logically. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Overall', 'In studying', and 'while', though their usage is sometimes mechanical or repetitive ('followed by', 'shows same trend'). Paragraphing is attempted, but the structure is quite fragmented with many very short, repetitive sentences. Logical progression is occasionally disrupted by redundant statements, such as repeating points about UK and German relaxing habits multiple times. Referencing is generally clear, but the overall organization lacks the smooth flow expected at higher bands, placing this firmly at Band 5.5.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the student to communicate basic comparisons ('trend', 'relaxing', 'studying', 'sleep'). However, the range is limited and repetitive, with frequent reliance on basic verbs ('shows', 'spend', 'study'). There are noticeable lexical and collocational errors, such as 'weak day' instead of 'weekday', 'students studies', and awkward phrasing like 'just shows average weak day in all'. These errors do not completely impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score to a Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control is inconsistent. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('Japanese students shows', 'UK and Germany students shows', 'students studies'), missing articles ('between three countries students'), and preposition errors ('on lower side'). Complex structures are often faulty or awkward in construction. While meaning is generally recoverable despite the numerous errors, the high frequency of basic grammatical slips prevents the response from achieving a Band 6.0.

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

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