Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-30

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 charts represent the number of individuals who were introduced to a French regional language, such as Alsatian, Occitan, Breton, Creole and Corican by their parents during their childhood, classified in terms of regular and occasional usage and the number of parents, in thousands, who communicate in their local language with their children.

Overall, Occitan and Alsatian were the most spoken languages on a regular basis by the parents with their children and Occitan was the most popular language in terms of occasional usage, while Corsican was the least popular in both categories. Moreover, Alsatian was the most popular language among adults to communicate with their children.

Turning to details, Alsatian was spoken by 400,000 adults to their children, which is highest in the category, followed by Occitan, Breton and Creole, with 250,000, 95,000 and 80,000 adults communicating in it, respectively. However, Corsican was the least communicated language, which was spoken by 60,000 adults.

Furthermore, Occitan was the most spoken language by parents, in which over 60,000 adults learnt it during their childhood, while speaking habitually and over 1.5 million adults speaking it ocassionally, whereas, Corsican was the least popular language during the childhood which was spoken by over 90,000 individuals habitually and 100,000 occasionally.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student covers all parts of the visual data by discussing both charts and mentioning all the regional languages (Alsatian, Occitan, Breton, Creole, and Corsican). An overview is provided in the second paragraph, identifying key trends such as Occitan and Alsatian being the most spoken and Corsican being the least popular. However, there are some noticeable inaccuracies in data interpretation. For example, the student writes that 'over 60,000 adults learnt it during their childhood while speaking habitually' for Occitan, whereas the chart shows 620,000. Similarly, 'over 1.5 million adults speaking it occasionally' misrepresents the figure of approximately 1,065,000 (1m + 65k). Despite these data transcription errors, the response satisfies the general requirements of Task 1 by selecting and reporting main features.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response is logically organised into an introduction, an overall summary paragraph, and two body paragraphs focusing on details. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different aspects of the charts. Cohesive devices are employed to link ideas, such as 'Overall', 'Turning to details', and 'Furthermore', though some transitions feel slightly mechanical or repetitive in structure. Referencing is generally clear, allowing the reader to follow the progression of information from childhood data to current adult usage, earning a solid Band 6.5.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms such as 'classified in terms of', 'regular and occasional usage', and 'respectively'. There are some spelling and lexical slips, such as 'Corican' instead of 'Corsican' and 'ocassionally' instead of 'occasionally'. While attempts are made to use less common vocabulary like 'habitually' and 'communicating', inaccuracies in figures and occasional word-choice issues limit the score to a Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses ('who were introduced to...') and participial phrases ('classified in terms of...'). There are several grammatical errors and awkward phrasings, such as 'which is highest in the category' (missing article 'the') and 'over 60,000 adults learnt it during their childhood, while speaking habitually' (clunky modifier usage). Punctuation is generally acceptable, and errors do not impede overall communication, placing this securely in the Band 6.0 territory.

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