Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-18

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 presented pie chart illustrates survey by teachers of foreign language in Britain about why their students are learning different language around the world.The first chart represents common reason for learning a language while other pie chart shows reasons of recent increase in people learning.

Taking a general overview,in the first chart the most common reason is business and work while foreign partner are the lowest.In the second pie chart the least increase in people learning is travel and highest are buying property overseas.

Form the first chart it is clear that foreign partner are the least common reason for learning language while travelling is the most common reason.Personal development and social contacts are having same percentage and general interest are having 5%.

Moving to the another pie chart, personal develpment and foreign partner are same in recent increased in people learning.Travel stands the lowest with 3%whereas buying property overseas is the highest.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The student attempts to address both charts, identifying several key features such as travel being the most common main reason (33%) and buying property overseas being the highest for recent increases (34%). However, the response contains several factual inaccuracies and misinterpretations of the data. For instance, in the second paragraph, the student states that in the first chart 'the most common reason is business and work', whereas the chart clearly shows travel is highest at 33% (with business at 26%). Furthermore, the student repeatedly misreads the data regarding 'foreign partner', which is actually 3% in both charts, but is incorrectly described as the lowest in one place and equated to personal development in another. The overview is also partially flawed due to these data errors. Therefore, the response falls into Band 5 for Task Achievement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The report is divided into logical paragraphs, including an introduction and an overview, followed by body paragraphs detailing the charts. Cohesive devices and transitional phrases are used to connect ideas, such as 'Taking a general overview', 'Form the first chart', and 'Moving to the another pie chart'. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical, as seen in awkward phrasing like 'while other pie chart' and grammatical errors within transitions. Paragraphing is present, but the overall progression is hindered by the factual confusion within the body paragraphs. Thus, a Band 6 is appropriate for Coherence and Cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range to describe statistical information, using terms such as 'pie chart', 'percentage', 'common reason', and 'highest'. However, there are notable lexical errors and unnatural word choices throughout the text, such as 'survey by teachers' instead of 'a survey of teachers', 'recent increased' instead of 'recent increase', and spelling mistakes like 'develpment'. Less common vocabulary is attempted with some inaccuracy. Overall, the lexical resource is sufficient for the task but contains noticeable errors that prevent it from reaching a higher band, fitting the Band 5 descriptors well.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as 'The presented pie chart illustrates survey by teachers... while other pie chart shows reasons...'. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors including missing articles ('illustrates survey', 'highest are buying property'), incorrect prepositions ('reasons of recent increase'), and subject-verb agreement issues ('personal development and social contacts are having same percentage'). These errors occasionally cause confusion for the reader, although communication is generally maintained. This performance aligns with Band 5 for Grammatical Range and Accuracy.

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

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