Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-10-13

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 percentage of typical weekday of students from United Kingdom,Japan and Germany.

The comparison has been done in three different categories: Sleeping,studying and relaxing.The most noticable feature is that students in Japan spend most of their weekdays studying at 13%,compared to the other countries and showed a decrease in relaxing at only 4%.

For the first category,sleeping,all three countries follow a similiar trend of 7% to 8.5%,with UK being the highest.In the second category,Studying,Japan shows the highest percentage within the particular category at 13%,whereas UK being at 8% and Germany being considerably higher at 9%>

In the final category,which is relaxing,Japan shows a major decline being at 4%,whereas Both the UK and Germany follow a similiar trend being at 7%.

To conclude,UK has the highest trend in sleeping at 8.5%,Japan has the highest trend in studying at a peak of 13% and Germany also being the highest out of all its categories in studying at 9%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the main contrasts accurately: Japan records the most studying (13) and least relaxing (4), while the UK has the highest sleeping figure (8.5), and the UK and Germany both relax for 7 hours. However, the chart gives hours, not percentages, so repeatedly describing the figures as “13%” or “7%” misrepresents the units. The opening also calls the chart a “percentage of typical weekday,” which is unclear. Your overview is present, but the conclusion repeats individual peaks rather than summarising the broader pattern across the three activities. To strengthen the response, state clearly that the figures are hours and give a concise overview of Japan’s unusually high study time and lower relaxation time, alongside the closer UK–Germany patterns.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, a general comparison, paragraphs covering the three activities, and a concluding statement. This makes the information easy to follow. The sequence from sleeping to studying to relaxing is logical, and phrases such as “In the second category” and “In the final category” help signal progression. However, the conclusion largely repeats details already given, and the opening paragraph’s general statement overlaps with the later overview. Some linking is mechanical, while punctuation and spacing around commas make transitions less smooth. For stronger cohesion, combine the overview into a focused summary and use comparisons to connect countries within each activity, rather than relying mainly on category labels.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant task vocabulary, including “category,” “highest,” “compared to,” and “decline,” and the reader can generally understand the comparisons. However, the range is limited and several choices are imprecise or repetitive. “Trend” is used for a single figure (“the highest trend”), although “figure” or “number of hours” is more suitable; “major decline” also suggests a change over time that the chart does not show. “Percentage” is an inaccurate label for the chart’s values, which are hours. Spelling errors such as “noticable” and “similiar” also reduce accuracy. Aim for precise chart language and vary repeated terms: describe values as hours, and use expressions such as “stood at,” “recorded,” or “spent.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple statements and longer comparative sentences, and most of the intended meaning remains understandable. Some sentence structures are incomplete or awkward, however. For example, “whereas UK being at 8%” lacks a finite verb; write “whereas the UK stood at 8 hours.” The opening phrase “The comparison has been done” is also an unnatural passive construction, and “students from United Kingdom,Japan and Germany” needs articles and clearer punctuation. There are occasional punctuation problems, including the stray “>” after “9%” and missing spaces after commas. Practise building complete comparison clauses with a subject and verb, and check articles, sentence boundaries, and punctuation when editing.

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

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