Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-17

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 5.0)

The given chart shows the information about the proportion of teachers reporting recent increase in the learning of people for the following reasons. The main reasons are personal development, foreign partner, social contacts,general interests, business work, travel, no change, and buying property overseas etc.

Overall, by comparing both charts, the most common and primary reason is travel and buying property overseas with the proportion of 33% and 34%.

On first chart, the primary reason is travel with the proportion of 33% while the lowest one is general interests. Additionally, business/work is the secondary reason of reporting with the rate of 26%. Moreover, personal developments and social contact remains contact with the rate of 7%

On second chart, the primary reason of reporting is buying property overseas with the proportion of approximately 34%, while travel is one of the lowest reason reporting reason.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The student attempts to address both pie charts by mentioning the main reasons and the recent increase in people learning for specific reasons. However, the response fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 150 words, standing at 142 words, which impacts the overall fullness of the response. Furthermore, there are several inaccurate readings of the data; for instance, the student states that travel and buying property overseas are both the most common and primary reasons with 33% and 34%, when in fact 33% is travel for the first chart and 34% is buying property overseas for the second chart. The overview is therefore confused. Ideas are presented but remain underdeveloped due to the lack of clear comparative synthesis and the brevity of the text. Band 5.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The text is divided into logical paragraphs, including an introduction, an overview, and separate body paragraphs for each chart. However, cohesive devices and referencing are sometimes faulty or mechanical. The transition phrases such as 'On first chart' and 'On second chart' are grammatically awkward ('On the first chart'). Furthermore, paragraphing is basic and the logical progression between sentences is occasionally hindered by imprecise data descriptions and awkward phrasing. While an overarching structure is present, the mechanical use of cohesive elements and occasional reference errors keep this criterion at a band 5.5.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for a basic description of data, featuring terms such as 'proportion', 'primary reason', and 'secondary reason'. However, there are numerous lexical and collocational errors throughout the text, such as 'learning of people', 'general interests' (instead of 'general interest'), 'personal developments' (instead of 'personal development'), and 'social contact remains contact' (a confusing and unidiomatic phrasing). The student attempts less common vocabulary, but these inaccuracies and awkward collocations lead to strain for the reader. Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'The given chart shows the information about...' and '...while travel is one of the lowest reason reporting reason.' However, there are frequent grammatical errors including missing articles ('On first chart'), pluralisation errors ('one of the lowest reason reporting reason'), and preposition misuse. Subject-verb agreement issues also appear ('personal developments and social contact remains contact'). While the meaning is generally discernible despite these frequent errors, the grammatical control is inconsistent. Band 5.0.

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