Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-10-01

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 provided bar chart compares how students spen their free time on typical weekday across three activities in the UK, Japan and Germany.

Overall, it can be seen that studying was the most favorable activity of students on these days. It is noticeable that studying experienced significant change while sleeping and relaxing time remained relatively stable.

In the Uk, 8.5 students prefer sleeping as their free time activity. In Japan, the figure dropped gradually to 7 followed by a slight increase to 8. Stuying began with 8 in th UK and witnessed a dramatic increase of 5 to reach a peak of 13 in Japan. Furthermore, there was a sharp drop to 9 in Germany.

Turning to the remaining categories, In the UK, 7 students spend their free time on weekday by relaxing which declined gradually to 4 in Japan. In Germany, relaxing ended the period by 7, at the same where it started.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the main parts of the task by presenting an overview and reporting key figures across the three countries. However, some ideas are under-developed or inaccurately reported. For instance, the writer misinterprets the categories as free-time activities rather than a typical weekday breakdown, stating that '8.5 students prefer sleeping' instead of hours spent. Furthermore, the selection of data is sometimes confusing, such as mixing categories in comparisons. To reach a higher level, the response needs to more accurately report the data without confusing the units of measurement and ensure all key features are clearly and correctly highlighted.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The report has a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and paragraph structure. Cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'In the UK', 'Turning to the remaining categories', and 'Furthermore' are used to guide the reader through the data, though some transitions feel slightly mechanical. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the overview from the body details. However, progression within paragraphs becomes a bit repetitive and unclear when handling the data points, particularly in the third and fourth paragraphs. Improving the logical flow between individual data comparisons would elevate the organizational quality.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, attempting less common items such as 'significant change', 'dramatic increase', and 'gradually'. However, there are noticeable word choice errors and typos, such as 'spen' instead of spend, 'favorable' instead of popular, and 'Stuying' instead of Studying. The misuse of terminology, such as treating hours of an activity as the number of students who prefer it ('8.5 students prefer sleeping'), impacts lexical precision. To improve, the writer should focus on accurate spelling, correct word forms, and precise terminology related to statistical data reporting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing structures like 'It is noticeable that...' and comparative clauses. There are some grammatical and punctuation errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues and preposition errors, such as 'spend their free time on weekday by relaxing'. However, these errors rarely impede communication and the meaning remains mostly clear. To achieve a higher band, the writer needs to increase the proportion of error-free sentences and exercise better control over complex grammatical patterns and prepositions.

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

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