Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-05

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The chart and table below show the results of a survey of library users at a university.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Categories of library users

Categories of library users

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The pie chart provides information about the outcomes of a survey of library users at a university.

Overall, five categories of people uses library services including faculty staff, bachelor students, part time and full time postgraduate and those who are days scholar. The highest percentage of library users are the full time undergraduate students, while the academic staff uses it very often. Some peoples are not satisfied from library services due to lack of academic journals and books available. While most gives high ratings to it's helpfulness staff.

The 44% of library users are the undergraduate students who study full time at university. Full time postgraduates contributes 25% more than the part time post graduates which is only 16%.

In Days scholar only 8 out of 100 uses library services.

Students are most satisfied from the library staff of about 95% followed by a 65% users are okay with it's opening. Students are not satisfied from library due to the unavailability of books and journals in the library and complain about the services of wifi by 48% students.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.0
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the main user group correctly: full-time undergraduates account for 44%, followed by full-time postgraduates at 25% and part-time postgraduates at 16%. You also include satisfaction results, especially the 95% very satisfied with staff helpfulness. However, coverage is partial and some statements misrepresent the data. “Academic staff uses it very often” is not supported by the chart, which gives their share of users as 7%, not how often they visit. The claim that users complain about Wi-Fi is also inaccurate: 48% are very satisfied, while 19% are not satisfied. Your overview mentions books and journals but does not clearly summarise the strongest satisfaction pattern. Focus on accurate comparisons across both visuals and distinguish user proportions from satisfaction ratings.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a basic structure, with an opening, an overview and paragraphs containing figures from the two visuals. This gives the reader some sense of the information being discussed. However, progression is uneven: the overview combines user categories and satisfaction, then the body returns to user shares before moving abruptly to satisfaction. The sentence beginning “While most gives high ratings” is a fragment, and “In Days scholar” is not clearly connected to the preceding comparison. Cohesive links such as “followed by” are used, but relationships between points are sometimes unclear or repetitive. Group the user categories together, then compare satisfaction results, using clear topic sentences and accurate references to each chart.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant task vocabulary, including “percentage,” “categories,” “satisfied,” and “unavailability,” and the reader can generally identify the topics being compared. However, word choice and collocation are often inaccurate or informal, which makes some points unclear. For example, “days scholar” does not accurately express “distance learning,” and “okay with its opening” is imprecise for satisfaction with opening hours. Phrases such as “uses library services” and “complain about the services of wifi” are awkward, while “faculty staff” and “bachelor students” do not match the chart labels. Use precise terms from the visuals and standard collocations such as “accounted for” and “were very satisfied with.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple statements and longer sentences, and some numerical comparisons are understandable, such as the sentence comparing the 25% and 16% groups. However, the range is limited and errors occur frequently enough to affect clarity. Subject–verb agreement is inconsistent in “five categories … uses” and “Full time postgraduates contributes.” Articles and sentence construction are also problematic: “While most gives high ratings” is an incomplete clause, and “In Days scholar only 8 out of 100 uses” has an unclear grammatical structure. Possessive forms and punctuation need attention in “it's helpfulness staff.” Practise complete sentences with accurate agreement, and use a consistent pattern when reporting percentages.

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