Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-10-20

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 Two Pie Chart Illustrates the reasons why people in britain learn a foreign languages, according to teachers, who reported a recent increase in these reasons.

overall, travel was the most common reason for learning a foreign language while buying property was the second most popular. In contrast, having a foreign partner was the least common reason.

According to the first chart, 33% of teachers said that travel was the main reason. buying property overseas for 19%, while business or work represented 26%. social contacts and personal development both are equal proportion 7% and 5% for general interest. moreover, only 3% of a foreign language.

The Second Chart shows that buying property overseas had the largest sector recently increase 34%. business or work followed at 19%, while social contacts accounted or no change are still same ratio 15%. while general interest represents 6%. foreign partner and personal development each stood at 4%. The lowest category is travel and foreign partner for about 3% in both pie charts.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the main pattern in the first chart: travel leads at 33%, followed by business/work at 26% and buying property overseas at 19%, while a foreign partner is least common at 3%. However, the overview does not clearly explain what the second chart measures: it reports teachers’ views of recent increases, and includes a 15% “no change” category. Some details are also inaccurate or unclear. For example, you describe travel as the lowest category in both charts, although it is the highest in the first; and “only 3% of a foreign language” does not state the foreign-partner figure clearly. Cover both charts accurately in the overview and distinguish the categories and values more carefully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic report structure, with an opening, an overview and separate paragraphs for the two charts. This gives the reader some sense of organisation. However, progression is weakened by unclear links and abrupt fragments, such as “buying property overseas for 19%” and “while social contacts accounted or no change are still same ratio 15%.” The repeated use of “while” and “moreover” does not always show the relationship between the figures accurately, and the final comparison combines travel and foreign partner in a confusing way. Use one paragraph per chart, group the largest and smallest figures, and connect comparisons explicitly so the reader can follow the data without having to infer your meaning.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant chart-report vocabulary, including “most common reason,” “accounted,” “represented” and “stood at,” and you attempt to compare categories. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations make the data difficult to interpret. “Largest sector recently increase” is not a natural way to describe the 34% figure, while “accounted or no change are still same ratio” obscures the comparison. The phrase “only 3% of a foreign language” is also imprecise. Choose accurate reporting expressions such as “the largest share reporting an increase” and “teachers reported no change,” and use consistent labels for each reason. Check capitalisation and spelling as well, including “Britain” and sentence-initial words.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple and more connected sentences, but control is uneven, and errors frequently make comparisons hard to understand. For example, “social contacts and personal development both are equal proportion 7%” has faulty word order and is missing a grammatical link; “business or work represented 26%” is followed by an incomplete clause, “buying property overseas for 19%.” The sentence beginning “The Second Chart shows” also contains a run-on sequence of clauses, with unclear agreement and punctuation. Practise forming complete sentences with a clear subject and verb, and use accurate structures such as “Social contacts and personal development each accounted for 7%.” Careful sentence boundaries and consistent articles and plurals would improve clarity.

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