Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-08-03
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 5.5)
The pie chart and table illustrate the results of a survey of library users at a university. Particularly, pie chart describes the shares among categories of library users, whereas the table demonstrates library user satisfaction about different facilities provided.
Overall, Full-time undergraduates cover the maximum number of share among different library users and majority of users are very satisfied with the helpfulness of staff. In contrast, academic staff is accounted less proportion of library users and most of the users are not satisfied with availability of journals.
Library user's proportion is divided with the help of a survey where it is observed that, full-time undergraduate cover maximum share with 44% followed by full-time postgraduate accounted 25%. Part-time graduates maintain a moderate proportion with 16% of users, distance learning and academic staff are among the lowest preferred categories with 8% and 7% of library users respectively.
Customers are very satisfied with helpfulness of staff with 95%, followed by library opening hours accounted 65%. Availability of books and journals are fairly satisfies with 40% and 35% each. Users are not satisfies by the availability of journals and reliability of wi-fi.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response covers all parts of the task, providing a clear overview and highlighting key data points from both the pie chart and the table. You successfully identified the main trends, such as the dominance of full-time undergraduates and the high satisfaction levels regarding staff helpfulness. However, the analysis could be improved by making more direct comparisons between the categories rather than just listing percentages. For instance, noting that full-time undergraduates are more than six times as numerous as academic staff would add depth. The summary is accurate and relevant, meeting the requirements for a Band 6.5-7.0 performance.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response is logically organized into four paragraphs: an introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs covering the chart and table respectively. The progression of ideas is clear. You use some cohesive devices like 'In contrast' and 'followed by', which help the flow. However, some transitions are slightly mechanical, and the referencing could be more sophisticated. For example, the phrase 'Library user's proportion is divided with the help of a survey' is a bit clunky. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring smoother transitions between sentences would elevate the coherence score.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'proportion', 'categories', and 'demonstrates'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation that prevent a higher score. For example, 'cover the maximum number of share' is unnatural; 'account for the largest share' would be more precise. Additionally, there are minor errors such as 'fairly satisfies' instead of 'fairly satisfied' and 'not satisfies' instead of 'not satisfied'. To reach a higher band, focus on using more precise academic collocations and ensuring consistent word forms.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The response uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are several grammatical errors throughout the text. For instance, 'academic staff is accounted less proportion' should be 'academic staff accounts for a smaller proportion'. There are also issues with article usage and subject-verb agreement, such as 'full-time undergraduate cover' (should be 'undergraduates cover'). While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to limit the score. Increasing the variety of error-free complex sentences will help improve this score.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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