Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-10-05
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 bar graphs illustrates and compares the percentage of full car driving licence holders among different age groups and gender in Great Britain in the years [redacted phone] and 2006.
Overall, the middle-aged individuals remained the dominant group of driving licence holders in both the years. Additionally men hold considerably higher driving licence compared to the women of the same age group. However, the figures of licence holders increased by the year 2006 with marked increase seen among the women.
Coming to the age, the members of 17-20 and above 70 age limit showed considerably lower figures among both the genders in both years with approximately 20-40%.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0
The response only partially addresses the task requirements. First, it fails to meet the minimum word count requirement, falling significantly short at 106 words. While the student attempts to provide an overview and highlights some features, such as middle-aged groups dominating and a notable increase among women, the summary is incomplete and under-developed. Key comparisons between years and across specific age bands are largely missing, and the data points mentioned lack sufficient detail or precise support from the charts. To reach a higher level, the response needs to extend well beyond 150 words, select a broader range of key features, and provide accurate, fully developed comparisons between both years and all age cohorts.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The text displays some basic organization, beginning with an introductory paraphrase followed by an overview and a body paragraph. However, there is no clear overall progression across the text, and the paragraphing is brief and underdeveloped. Cohesive devices are used minimally and somewhat repetitively, such as the transition phrases 'Overall' and 'Coming to the age'. Referencing is occasionally loose, for example when referring vaguely to 'the members of 17-20 and above 70 age limit'. To improve cohesion and logical flow, the writer should use a wider variety of cohesive markers to link sentences and ideas smoothly, and group data into logical, well-developed paragraphs that trace a clear comparative argument.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate to communicate the basic topic of driving licence holders. There are noticeable lexical errors and awkward word choices, such as writing 'graphs illustrates' instead of 'graph illustrates', 'gender' instead of 'genders', and 'men hold considerably higher driving licence' where 'men held significantly higher proportions of driving licences' is required. Collocations are occasionally unnatural. Spelling is generally accurate, but the restricted range of vocabulary and frequent lexical inaccuracies cause some difficulty for the reader and prevent the response from achieving a higher band.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The writer employs a limited range of sentence structures, relying mostly on simple sentences with occasional attempts at complex forms that turn out faulty. There are frequent grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('The bar graphs illustrates'), missing plural forms ('among different age groups and gender'), and awkward prepositional phrases ('Coming to the age'). Punctuation is basic. These recurring errors can cause occasional difficulty for the reader. To improve, the student needs to demonstrate a greater variety of complex structures and exercise tighter control over basic grammatical agreements, tenses, and plurals.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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