Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-22

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 chart illustrate the transmission of regional languages in France across two generations.

Occitan was the most heared language in childhood. Moreover, there has been a significant decline in speaking the regional languages to the next generation.

In childhood, around 1.1 million adults heared occitan occasionally and 550,000 heard it habitually. For Alsatian the trend was opposite about 500,000 heard it habitually and only 230,000 heard it occasionally. breton figures were 200,000 habitually and 400,000 occasionally.creole and corsican were the least common among all.

In contrast, the number of adults who speak a regional language to their own children is much lower.Alsatian remains the strongest at approximately 400,000. Moreover, the figure for Occitan has dropped dramatically to only about 250,000. The numbers for creole and corsican are all below 100,000.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The student attempts to describe the main trends across the charts, noting that Occitan was prominent in childhood and that passing regional languages to the next generation has declined significantly. However, the response fails to meet the minimum word count of 150 words, stopping at 130 words. Furthermore, some data points are inaccurate or loosely approximated compared to the source chart, such as stating Occitan had 1.1 million occasional speakers when the chart shows around 1.06 million, and misrepresenting Alsatian's habitual versus occasional numbers. While an overview is attempted, the lack of sufficient length and minor data inaccuracies prevent the score from reaching Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The text is organized into four paragraphs, moving from an introductory overview to childhood data and then to the comparison with the next generation. Cohesive devices like 'In contrast' and 'Moreover' are used to link ideas. However, paragraphing is somewhat disjointed due to the brief length, and referencing can be repetitive. The overall progression is generally clear, but the lack of development and mechanical use of transition words keeps the score at Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with attempts at less common items such as 'transmission', 'significant decline', and 'dramatically'. However, there are notable spelling errors ('heared' instead of 'heard', 'occitan' with a lowercase letter, 'breton', 'creole') and word choice inaccuracies. The range is sufficient to convey the basic meaning, but lexical control is limited, which aligns with a Band 5.5 score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'In contrast, the number of adults who speak a regional language to their own children is much lower.' However, there are frequent grammatical errors, including capitalization errors ('occitan', 'breton', 'creole', 'corsican') and punctuation or structural slips. While these errors rarely completely impede communication, they are persistent throughout the short text, justifying a Band 5.5.

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

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