Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-02

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The charts below show the number of French adults whose parents spoke a French regional language to them when they were children and the number who speak a French regional language to their own children.

Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information below.

Number of adults (in thousands) whose parents spoke a regional language to them in childhood

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The given bar chart illustrates the number of senior citizen of French whose parents spoke a French regional language to them when they were children and the number who talk to their children with the same language.

Overall, Alsatian and Occitan were spoken frequently by the parents, whereas only Occitan was used occasionally. People used to communicate more in Breton than compared to Creole and Corsican. Breton was also used as an occasional language more than it was used as on daily basis. However, Alsatian was famous among adults as they used it the most while addressing their children.

Furthermore, parents of the adults were more likely communicate in Occitan. According to the given information, 600 thousand of parents were observed speaking Occitan habitually, while nearly 1.5 million of parents preferred to speak it once in a while. Moreover, Occitan being the famous one among parents, 400 thousands of adults were recorded of addressing their children in Alsatian. While approximately 250,000 individuals used Occitan. The remaining of the three languages were spoken by less than 105 thousands of adults.

In addition, Corsican was the least preferred language among all the others, whereas Alsatian and Occitan recorded the highest number of speakers.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers the main features of the charts, but the analysis is inconsistent and occasionally inaccurate. For instance, the claim that 'Alsatian and Occitan were spoken frequently' is vague, and the data interpretation is sometimes confusing, such as the mention of '1.5 million' which is not clearly supported by the provided visual data. The report lacks a clear distinction between the two categories (parents speaking to children vs. adults speaking to their own children), which makes the comparison difficult to follow. To improve, ensure that data points are cited precisely and that the distinction between the two sets of data is clearly articulated in the overview and body paragraphs.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is organized into paragraphs, but the logical progression is weak. The transition between the overview and the body paragraphs is abrupt, and the use of cohesive devices is sometimes mechanical or misused (e.g., 'Furthermore' and 'In addition' do not always connect ideas logically). Referencing is occasionally unclear, particularly when discussing the different languages without explicitly linking them back to the specific chart categories. The paragraphing is present but does not effectively group related information, leading to a somewhat disjointed reading experience.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks precision. There are several awkward phrasings, such as 'senior citizen of French' instead of 'French senior citizens' or 'French adults', and 'talk to their children with the same language' instead of 'speak the same language to their children'. The use of 'famous' to describe a language is inappropriate in this context; 'prevalent' or 'widely spoken' would be more accurate. While the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the general meaning, the lack of precision and occasional word-choice errors limit the score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors. Examples include 'number of senior citizen of French' (incorrect noun phrase), 'parents were more likely communicate' (missing 'to'), and '400 thousands of adults were recorded of addressing' (incorrect preposition and pluralization). While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to be noticeable. To reach a higher band, focus on subject-verb agreement, correct preposition usage, and ensuring that complex structures are formed accurately.

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

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