Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-17

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 4.0)

The given bar chart elucidates information about Number of adults ( in thousands ) whose parents spoke a regional language to them in childhood . The chart compares different categories and presents the data in number or percentages .

Overall, it is clear that there are noticeable different categories shown in the chart . In addition , some categories show some fluctuation increment as well as decrement whereas for some cases they remain stable .

According to the chart , the first main activities Language Spoken habitually first Corsican 180 number , Creole 200 price , Breton 250 pr, Occitan 650 price , Aisatian 600 p . The second activities Spoken occasionally in first Corsican 100 price , Creole 120 price , Breton 400 price , Occitan 1 million , Alsatian 300 price in language .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 3.0

The student fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 150 words, stopping at 136 words, which negatively impacts Task Achievement. Furthermore, the response is severely underdeveloped and contains major inaccuracies in reporting the data. The overview merely states that there are noticeable categories rather than highlighting the main trends or significant differences between languages. In the body paragraphs, the student attempts to list figures for habitual and occasional speakers, but the numbers provided (such as Corsican 180, Occitan 650) are inaccurate or nonsensical based on the chart, and meaningless units like 'price' or 'p' are repeatedly inserted instead of data units in thousands. Consequently, the task is only minimally addressed.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0

The text is organized into short paragraphs, including an introduction, overview, and body section, which provides a basic framework. However, the overall progression is very weak and disjointed. Cohesive devices are either missing or misused, and the referencing is faulty. Sentences appear fragmented and disconnected, particularly in the third paragraph where a chaotic list of numbers and inappropriate labels ('price') makes the progression impossible to follow. Paragraphing is rudimentary and insufficient to establish logical flow, resulting in a performance that aligns with Band 4 descriptors.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.0

The lexical range is extremely limited and repetitive, with basic vocabulary dominating the response. The student struggles significantly with appropriate word choice and collocations, inserting bizarre and irrelevant terms such as 'price' repeatedly next to statistical data items (e.g., 'Creole 200 price'). There are also vocabulary items copied awkwardly from the prompt without proper integration. Word formation and lexical control are severely compromised, leading to communication breakdowns and placing the performance firmly in Band 4.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

The grammatical structures attempted are very basic and repetitive, consisting mostly of fragmented or simple descriptive clauses. The student struggles with sentence formation, leading to broken syntax such as 'The first main activities Language Spoken habitually first Corsican 180 number...'. Punctuation and spacing errors are frequent, including spaces before punctuation marks (e.g., 'childhood .'). Due to the high density of structural errors, frequent awkward phrasing, and lack of complex sentences, the grammar meets the criteria for Band 4.

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

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