Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-10-13

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 data presents opinions of teachers of foreign languages in britain to a study regarding why their students are studying a foreign language.

Teachers examined the reasons why the students are learning a new language. Most common reason for learning a new language is for traveling followed by work and property reasons, while some other factors were also examined. There was a recent increase in the reason of why learning a new language amongst students one of them being business and owning land in other countries sparked the factor.

While traveling, working, buying property overseas contributed to about 78 percent of why students were learning a new language other factors such as social, personal, foreign partner and interest contributed the remaining.

Recently, the major increase was seen in the reason of owning land overseas of about 16 percent. 15 percent was no change and a 8 percent increase in social contacts. Travelling received the highest decrease amongst all.

Data provided by the teachers regarding their students learning foreign language showed the reasons why the students opted for a new language and how later the changes fluctuated.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The report identifies the main reason as travel and notes work and overseas property as other leading motivations, which captures some important features. However, several figures and comparisons are inaccurate or unclear. The first three categories total 78%, but the report does not give the individual values (33%, 26% and 19%). More importantly, it says the increase for overseas property was about 16%, whereas the chart shows 34%; social contacts are reported as 8% rather than 15%. The statement that travel had the highest decrease is also unsupported: the second chart reports a recent increase, with travel at 3%. Include a clear overview of the largest changes and distinguish the two charts more precisely.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a basic sequence: it introduces the survey, describes the main reasons, then turns to recent changes. This gives the reader some sense of the task’s two parts. However, progression is not consistently clear, and several sentences combine ideas without explaining their relationship. For example, “one of them being business and owning land in other countries sparked the factor” is difficult to follow, while “While traveling, working, buying property overseas contributed…” does not connect smoothly to the previous paragraph. The final sentence largely repeats the introduction rather than concluding the comparison. Use separate paragraphs for the two charts, and organise each around the most important figures, with clear links such as “by contrast” or “in comparison.”

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The response uses relevant topic vocabulary, including “foreign language,” “business,” “buying property overseas” and “social contacts,” and it attempts to vary wording with phrases such as “major increase” and “contributed.” However, some choices are imprecise or unnatural, which makes the data harder to interpret. “The reason of why learning” and “sparked the factor” do not express the intended meaning clearly, and “owning land” is less accurate than the chart’s broader category of buying property. “Fluctuated” is also unsuitable because the charts do not show a time series. Aim for precise reporting language and reuse the chart labels where appropriate; this will improve clarity without requiring more elaborate vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response includes both simple statements and some attempts at longer structures, such as “While traveling, working, buying property overseas contributed…” and “Recently, the major increase was seen…”. Meaning is generally recoverable, but errors in sentence construction and grammatical control sometimes make relationships unclear. The opening phrase “Most common reason for learning…” is missing an article, and “There was a recent increase in the reason of why learning…” has an awkward, incomplete structure. In “While traveling, working, buying property overseas contributed…,” the opening “While” clause is not grammatically connected to the main clause. Check articles, clause structure and punctuation, and favour complete, direct sentences when comparing percentages.

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