Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-22

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 5.5)

The rendered pie chart illustrates the information regarding the survey conducted to show responses by teachers of foreign languagein britain.There are two pie charts,the first illustrates 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.

At a fleeting glance,the percentage of teachers reporting the most common reason for learning are as following. Travel is the highest value in whole pie chart 33%. After this business and work takes the second place with a value of 26%.only 19% teachers were in buying properties overseas. With the least values comes foreign partner,personal development,social contracts,general interest respectively valued as 3%,7%,7%and 5%.

Analysing further, maximum increase in learning is valued in buying properity overseas. In addition to that 19% is concerned with business work.Moreover,social contacts and no change shares a common figure 15%.rRemaining figures of personal development,foreign partner,general intrest and travel is as respectively 4%,4%,6%,3%.

overall, buying property overseas and business work leads the maximum percentage in bot the charts.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student covers all parts of the task by reporting data from both pie charts, successfully identifying key figures such as travel at 33% as the highest in the first chart, and buying property overseas at 34% in the second chart. An overview is present at the end, noting that buying property overseas and business work lead the percentages in both charts. However, the response contains several inaccuracies and misreadings of the data. For instance, the student states that 'only 19% teachers were in buying properties overseas' for the first chart, whereas 19% actually refers to buying property overseas in the first chart, but the second chart shows 34% for this category. Additionally, there are minor typos in data transcription and grouping ('social contracts' instead of social contacts). Overall, the task is addressed, but the inaccuracies in data referencing limit the score to a Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is organized into four paragraphs, following a logical layout with an introduction, two body paragraphs detailing the charts, and a brief overall summary. However, cohesion is frequently faulty and mechanical. Transitional phrases such as 'At a fleeting glance,' 'After this,' and 'Analysing further,' are used awkwardly. Referencing is sometimes unclear, and the mechanical listing of remaining figures in the third paragraph ('Remaining figures of personal development, foreign partner, general intrest and travel is as respectively 4%, 4%, 6%, 3%') disrupts the flow. Paragraphing is present, but internal cohesion lacks flexibility and natural progression, placing it firmly in the Band 5.0 to 5.5 range.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms like 'illustrates', 'percentage', 'highest value', and 'increase'. However, there are numerous lexical, spelling, and word-formation errors throughout the text, such as 'foreign languagein britain' (missing spaces and capitalization), 'properties' instead of property, 'social contracts' instead of social contacts, 'properity', and 'intrest'. Less common vocabulary is attempted with noticeable inaccuracy, and collocation is occasionally awkward ('leads the maximum percentage'). Because these errors do not completely impede communication but are frequent, the lexical resource corresponds to Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'The second chart shows how many teachers felt that there has been a recent change in the reason.' However, grammatical control is weak, with frequent errors in punctuation, subject-verb agreement, and prepositions. Examples include missing spaces after commas ('glance,the', 'charts,the'), incorrect subject-verb agreement ('the percentage of teachers reporting... are'), and awkward phrasing ('with the least values comes...'). Punctuation slips, run-on structures, and capitalization omissions are common throughout. Because errors are frequent and occasionally cause difficulty for the reader, this performance meets the Band 5.0 descriptors.

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

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