Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-12

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

Student answer (Band 4.0)

The pie chart and table illustrate the use of library by five categories of academic personalities and their satisfaction of using the library.

Overall, majority of the total library users were undergraduate and poostgraduate students, whereas the academic staff and distant leaners accounted for the fewest number

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.0

The response identifies the visuals as a chart and table and offers a relevant broad observation: undergraduate and postgraduate students make up most users, while academic staff and distance learners are among the smallest groups. However, it does not summarise the satisfaction results at all, and it gives no figures or comparisons to support its overview. The claim about the smallest groups is broadly grounded in the data, but the response does not distinguish the 7% of academic staff from the 8% of distance learners. Most importantly, it contains only 47 words, well below the required 150, so the task is addressed only minimally. To improve, report the main user proportions and compare satisfaction across the five services, including the high staff-helpfulness rating and the lower journal rating.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

There is a basic attempt at organisation: the opening sentence introduces both visuals, followed by a separate overview beginning with “Overall”. This gives the reader a simple starting structure. However, the response ends after that overview, so there is no progression into details, comparisons, or a concluding summary of the data. The final clause, “accounted for the fewest number”, is also left incomplete, which interrupts the flow. Because the response is so brief, there is little opportunity to show how ideas can be grouped or linked across the chart and table. Develop a clear sequence—introduction, overview, then one or two paragraphs comparing the key figures—and use references such as “by contrast” or “in comparison” to connect those details.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

The response uses a small set of relevant terms, including “pie chart”, “table”, “categories” and “library users”, so the topic is generally recognisable. However, the vocabulary is limited and some choices are inaccurate or awkward: “academic personalities” is not a natural label for the groups, and “distant leaners” appears to be an incorrect rendering of “distance learners”. “Use of library” and “satisfaction of using the library” are also imprecise collocations. The misspelling “poostgraduate” further reduces accuracy. Use the chart’s exact category labels and more precise reporting language, such as “accounted for”, “represented” and “were satisfied with”. This would make the short response clearer and more appropriate to an academic data summary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The response contains two complete sentences and uses a basic contrast structure with “whereas”, showing some control of simple sentence formation. However, the range is very narrow, and the second sentence has a grammatical problem: “majority of the total library users” needs a determiner, as in “the majority of library users”. The phrase “accounted for the fewest number” is also incomplete and does not form a clear comparison; it could be revised to “accounted for the smallest proportions”. The first sentence’s possessive construction, “their satisfaction of using the library”, is awkwardly formed. Practise accurate comparative sentences and structures for reporting percentages, while checking articles, noun phrases, and sentence completion.

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