Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-16

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The pie charts below show responses by teachers of foreign languages in Britain to a survey concerning why their students are learning a foreign language. The first chart shows the main reason for learning a foreign language. The second chart shows how many teachers felt that there has been a recent change in the reason.

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

% of teachers reporting the following as most common reason for learning:

Student answer (Band 6.0)

The pie charts illustrate the main reasons why students in Britain learn foreign languages and the proportion of teachers who noticed recent changes in these reasons.

Overall, travel was the most common reason for learning a foreign language, whereas having a foreign partner was the least common. Buying property overseas experienced the most notable recent change.

According to the first chart, travel accounted for the largest proportion, at 33%. This was followed by business/work and buying property overseas, at 26% and 19%, respectively. Social contact and personal development each represented 7%, while general interest and having a foreign partner accounted for 5% and 3%.

Regarding recent changes, buying property overseas recorded the highest figure, at 28%. Business/work and travel followed, at 18% and 15%, respectively. Social contact accounted for 12%, while having a foreign partner represented 10%. Personal development and general interest showed the smallest changes, at 9% and 8%, respectively.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student covers all parts of the task well, providing a clear overview and selecting key features from both pie charts. The introduction successfully paraphrases the prompt, and the overview captures the main trends effectively (e.g., travel as the most common reason and foreign partner as the least common). However, there is a significant issue with data accuracy in the final paragraph regarding the second chart. For instance, the student reports buying property overseas as 28% and social contact as 12%, whereas the actual data in the visual transcription shows 34% and 15% respectively. This misinterpretation of the data prevents the response from achieving a higher band score, as accurate data reporting is essential for Task Achievement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The response is arranged logically with a clear overall progression. The information is divided into sensible paragraphs, starting with an introduction and overview, followed by body paragraphs detailing each chart. Cohesive devices are used adequately to guide the reader through the data, such as 'Overall', 'According to the first chart', and 'Regarding recent changes'. Referencing and substitution are generally clear, though paragraphing and transitions could be slightly more sophisticated to reach the higher bands. Overall, the structure is easy to follow and meets the requirements for a coherent report.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating topic-specific terms such as 'proportion', 'accounted for', 'represented', and 'recorded the highest figure'. There are some attempts at less common vocabulary, but the lexical choices remain fairly standard. While communication is completely clear, there are no notable uncommon lexical items used with high precision, and the persistent data transcription inaccuracies in the final paragraph suggest that precision in reporting could be improved. The range is sufficient for the task requirements.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

The student displays a good control of grammar and punctuation. There is a mix of simple and complex sentence forms used accurately throughout the text, such as 'The pie charts illustrate the main reasons why students in Britain learn foreign languages...' and 'This was followed by business/work and buying property overseas, at 26% and 19%, respectively.' The majority of sentences are error-free, and complex structures are handled without causing any impediment to communication. Punctuation with lists and percentages is managed well, demonstrating a solid command of sentence structure.

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

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