Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-09-29

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 provides information about how many hours are spent by students over the course of a usual weekday, in three different nations of the world.

The bar chart shows how many hours are reported utilised by students, at the expense of sleeping, studying and relaxing. The most uneven distribution of time is observed in Japan.

Japan ranks the highest with 13 hours spent by students for studying, while it ranks the least for time utilised for relaxing. UK students prioritise their sleeping hours the most when compared with the other two countries, with 8.5 hours of sleep. Whereas students in Germany spend only 8 hours a day. UK students also spend one hour less studying in comparison with Canadian students.

The similarity observed in the chart, is that the time spent in relaxing is the same for UK and German students, with a 7 hour period across the weekday.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student covers the main features of the bar chart well, successfully reporting data for sleeping, studying, and relaxing across the UK, Japan, and Germany. Key comparisons are made, such as highlighting Japan's high studying hours and low relaxing time. However, there is a notable factual error in the third paragraph where the student mentions 'Canadian students', whereas the chart only depicts the UK, Japan, and Germany. This introduces inaccurate external information. Despite this lapse, the overview is clear and the core data points are appropriately selected and reported, aligning best with a Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response is logically organised into an introduction, an overview/body paragraph, and subsequent body paragraphs that break down specific details. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different ideas. Cohesive devices are generally used effectively, such as 'while', 'when compared with', and 'whereas', to contrast data across countries. However, referencing is occasionally slightly repetitive in structure, and the logical progression stumbles slightly when the unexpected mention of Canada appears in paragraph three. Overall, the arrangement is coherent and easy to follow, supporting a Band 6.5.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for task 1, using terms such as 'uneven distribution', 'prioritise', and 'similarity'. There are some successful attempts to use less common vocabulary, though there are minor awkwardness issues, such as 'reported utilised' in the second paragraph, which sounds unnatural. Word choices are generally clear enough to convey meaning without impeding communication, fitting the Band 6.0 descriptor well.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and comparative structures effectively (e.g., 'Japan ranks the highest with 13 hours spent by students for studying, while it ranks the least...'). There are some grammatical errors and awkward passive constructions, such as 'how many hours are reported utilised by students', which affect fluency. However, the majority of sentences are understandable, and punctuation is handled adequately, placing the performance securely at Band 6.0.

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

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