Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-28

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 bar chart depicts the number of older parents who spoke the regional French languages to their adults in their childhood.

Overall, it is evident that the proportion of those who occasionally dominate the habitual portion in term of spoken , except the Alsatian language . In contrast Occitan witnessed a larger number of people who spoke the most common language in adults' childhood.

The Occitan language accounted for the greatest number of spoken individuals in both the habitually and occasionally categories. However, 600 thousand people spoke Alsatian habitually as compared with occasionally proportion which has over than 200 thousand speakers. Subsequently Corsican language shared the lowest part in this chart in both habitually and occasionally categories which is just under 200 thousand and exactly 200 thousand speakers respectively.

On the other hand, Alsatian tongue registered exactly 400 thousand adult parents those speak a regional language to their own children .Consequently Breton or Creole witnessed just under 100 thousand adult speakers. In this chart Corsican documented in the French lowest regional spoken language approximately 70 thousand speakers which is lowest among all categories.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The student attempts to address the prompt by describing the two charts regarding French regional languages. However, there are significant misinterpretations and inaccurate reporting of the data. For instance, the student states that Alsatian had 600 thousand speakers habitually compared to an occasional proportion of over 200 thousand, which reverses or garbles the actual figures and chart layout. Furthermore, the second chart (parents speaking to their own children) is described confusingly, with incorrect figures cited for Alsatian (stating 400 thousand adult parents speak it to their children, when the bar actually indicates 400k for something else or misreads the scale). The overview attempts to capture main trends ('Occitan language accounted for the greatest number'), but lacks precision. Overall, the response addresses the task partially due to frequent data inaccuracies and under-developed comparisons, placing it at a Band 5.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response is divided into four paragraphs, following a logical layout of introduction, overview, first chart details, and second chart details. However, the progression within paragraphs is sometimes hindered by confusing cohesive ties and awkward transitions, such as starting the fourth paragraph with 'On the other hand' when shifting to a different chart. Referencing is occasionally unclear (e.g., 'those speak a regional language'). Paragraphing is present and attempts to group related information, but logical flow is disrupted by muddled sentence structures and mechanical cohesive devices. This fits the Band 5.5 descriptor well.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student attempts some less common vocabulary related to data reporting, such as 'proportion', 'witnessed', 'accounted for', and 'categorised'. However, there are frequent inappropriate word choices and collocations, such as 'occasionally dominate the habitual portion in term of spoken', 'spoken individuals', and 'Alsatian tongue registered'. There are also awkward phrasings like 'shared the lowest part'. While the vocabulary is sufficient to convey a basic meaning, the noticeable errors in word choice and lexical control place this response firmly in the Band 5.5 range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over grammar is weak. There are frequent grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('parent parents those speak'), missing prepositions, and awkward relative clauses ('adult parents those speak a regional language'). Punctuation and article usage are also flawed throughout the text (e.g., 'the regional French languages to their adults in their childhood'). These errors cause some difficulty for the reader and mean that error-free sentences are in the minority, corresponding to a Band 5.0.

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

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