Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-09-15
IELTS Writing Task 1 question
The graphs below show the percentage of people holding full driving licences in Great Britain by age and sex.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Full car driving licence holders: by sex and age
Student answer (Band 5.5)
The graph illustrates the percentage of people occupying full driving license in Great Britan in terms of age and gender.
Overall, man had considerably higher proportion of driving license holders than women in almost every age group in both years. However, the percentage of female license holders increased substantially between the two periods, particularly among older women.
Firstly, In 2006, male aged between 60-69 had the highest percentage of holding driving license, followed by men aged between 30-59 had 80-90% of holding full car driving license, while older men aged between 70 and over had 75% of holding license. In 1975/1976, men aged between 17-20 had lowest percentage, while 30-69 with equal percentage around 50-70% owning car license.
Secondly, In 2006, younger girls aged 17-20 had lowest percentage of holding car license, whereas women aged between 21-69 had similar ratio of license, accounting for 50% to 65%. In 1975/1976, women had less amount of license, with 10% to 60% over the period.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The student successfully addresses all parts of the task by identifying the main features and making relevant comparisons between sex and age groups across the two time periods. An overview is provided, noting the higher proportion of male licence holders overall and the substantial increase among women over time. However, some of the data details are imprecise or slightly misreported; for instance, the text claims that in 2006 women aged 21-69 had a similar ratio of 50% to 65% when the chart shows higher figures for several of these groups (e.g., 40-49 was at 79%). Furthermore, the phrasing regarding age brackets is occasionally confused (e.g., 'men aged between 70 and over'). Despite these minor data inaccuracies, the overall response covers the key trends adequately. This performance aligns well with a Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response is organized with a clear overall arrangement, moving from an introduction to an overview and then grouping the body details by year and demographic. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction/overview from the body paragraphs. Cohesive devices are employed, such as 'Overall', 'However', 'Firstly', and 'Secondly', though some referencing and transitions are a bit mechanical or awkward (e.g., 'Firstly, In 2006...'). Progression is discernible, but some sentences feel slightly disjointed due to grammatical crowding of data. Overall, the organizational structure satisfies the requirements for a Band 6.0.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting appropriate topic-specific terms such as 'proportion', 'percentage', 'driving licence holders', and 'age group'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors throughout the text, such as 'occupying full driving license' instead of 'holding', 'man' instead of 'men', and 'younger girls aged 17-20' when the chart labels them simply as '17-20'. There are also occasional repetitive patterns like 'percentage of holding driving license'. While communication is not impeded, these inaccuracies restrict the score to Band 5.5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response displays a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but control over grammar is inconsistent. There are frequent grammatical errors and awkward phrasing, such as 'male aged between 60-69 had the highest percentage of holding driving license', 'men aged between 30-59 had 80-90% of holding', and missing plural forms or incorrect prepositions. Punctuation and capitalization errors also appear (e.g., 'Great Britan', 'Firstly, In 2006'). Because the errors are frequent and occasionally cause strain for the reader while attempting complex structures, this fits the Band 5.0 descriptor.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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