Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-14
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 the table provide data about a survey of students who use the university library.
Overall, the majority of this library users are full-time undergraduates. And similarly most of them tend to be satisfied with the libary's condtions , resourcefulness and reliability.
Only 7% of users are from the academi staff, and the low percentage are learning all courses online. Whereas 85% of this library's goers are students, from which 44% are full-time undergraduates, the fourth are full-time postgraduates and only 16% are part-time postgraduates.
While nobody is unhappy with the library opening hours or helpfulness of staff, 10% of users aren't satisfied with the availability of books, approximately 20% of them are unsatisfied with both the availability of journals and the reliabilty of wi-fi.
The biggest proportion of clear satisfaction is that about the helpfulness of staff woth the high percentage of 100 satisfied and 95% of them are very happy. In contrast the lowest proportion is that concerning the avalability of journals with only 45% very satisfied users.
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 successfully presents an overview of the main features from both the pie chart and the table. You identify the largest category of library users as full-time undergraduates and accurately report specific percentages, such as 44% for full-time undergraduates and 7% for academic staff. You also attempt to make comparisons and cover satisfaction levels, noting that nobody was unhappy with opening hours or helpfulness, while highlighting dissatisfaction with journal availability and wi-fi reliability. However, some figures are misinterpreted or slightly inaccurate compared to the visual data (for instance, stating that 'the fourth are full-time postgraduates' instead of a quarter, or misquoting satisfaction percentages in the final paragraph). While all parts of the prompt are addressed, these minor inaccuracies and occasional lapses in data reporting prevent a higher band, placing the response solidly at Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response is arranged into a coherent overall structure with a clear introduction, body paragraphs addressing different aspects of the survey, and an overview sentence in the second paragraph. Paragraphing is attempted, though grouping could be refined. Cohesive devices are used to connect ideas, such as 'Overall', 'Only', 'Whereas', and 'In contrast'. However, there are some mechanical or awkward transitions, such as starting a sentence with 'And similarly most of them...' and phrasing like 'the fourth are full-time postgraduates', which disrupts the logical flow. Referencing is sometimes unclear, for example in sentences like 'the low percentage are learning all courses online.' These minor cohesion issues and occasional referencing errors reflect the Band 6 descriptor.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms related to surveys and statistics, such as 'majority', 'proportion', 'percentage', and 'satisfaction'. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary like 'resourcefulness', 'reliability', and 'availability'. However, there are several word choice, spelling, and collocation errors that detract from precision, such as 'libary's condtions' (spelling), 'academi staff' (spelling), 'library's goers' (awkward collocation), and 'woth' (spelling). Expressions like 'the biggest proportion of clear satisfaction is that about the helpfulness of staff woth the high percentage of 100 satisfied' contain grammatical and lexical slips that impede fluency. These characteristics align with Band 5.5 to 6.0, warranting a score of 6.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The response incorporates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative and subordinate clauses such as 'While nobody is unhappy with the library opening hours...' and '...students, from which 44% are full-time undergraduates...'. However, grammatical control is inconsistent. There are noticeable errors in subject-verb agreement and preposition use, such as 'this library users' (should be 'these library users'), 'condtions' with stray spacing, and 'with only 45% very satisfied users' lacking necessary prepositions or articles. Punctuation errors also occur, such as comma splices or missing commas before dependent clauses. Because simple sentences are generally accurate while complex structures introduce frequent minor errors, the writing fits the Band 6.0 criteria well.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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