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 illustrates the proportion of how frequently students uses liberay in university, while the table chart shows the level of their satisfaction.
Overall, full-time undergraduate students utilizes the liberay most frequently while Academic staff has the least interest. In contrast, helpfulness staff has the highest satisfactory level while availability of journals have the highest level of non satisfied users.
Full- time undergraduate visit liberay more frequently with the highest percentage of 44% users followed by full-time graduate with 25%. Part- time post graduate students visits liberay for just 16%. Users from distant learning for all courses utilizes liberay for just 8%, while academic staff accounts for the least proportion of 7%.
liberay staff has the 95% of highest satisfactory perfectage following by timings with 65% while 35% not fully satisfied. In contrast, availibility of books, journals and reliability of wifi have half or close to half of all the users satisfactory level with 50%,45% and 48% respectively. While the rest goes for fairly satisfied or not satisfied users.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response covers the main features of both the pie chart and the table, successfully highlighting key categories of library users and levels of satisfaction. In the overview, the student correctly identifies that full-time undergraduates use the library most frequently while academic staff use it the least. Key data points are reported, such as 44% for full-time undergraduates and 95% satisfaction for library staff. However, the summary tends to present data points in a somewhat disjointed list format rather than fully synthesising comparisons across both visuals. Nevertheless, all parts of the prompt are addressed, fulfilling the requirements for a Band 6.0 performance.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is arranged into four paragraphs, following a logical structure with an introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs dedicated to the chart and table data respectively. Cohesive devices are used, though sometimes awkwardly or repetitively (e.g., 'In contrast,', 'While the rest goes for...'). Paragraphing is sufficient and helps separate the visual data clearly. However, referencing is occasionally imprecise (e.g., 'helpful staff has the highest satisfactory level' where grammatical cohesion slips), and the overall progression feels slightly mechanical at times. This aligns well with the Band 6 descriptor for coherence and cohesion.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The student attempts a range of vocabulary suitable for an Academic Task 1 response, including terms like 'proportion', 'illustrates', 'satisfactory level', and 'accounts for'. However, there are numerous spelling and word-form errors throughout the text, such as 'liberay' (repeatedly misspelled), 'utilizes', 'satisfactory' instead of 'satisfaction', 'perfectage', and 'availibility'. These errors are noticeable and detract from the lexical quality, although the intended meaning remains understandable. These characteristics place the lexical resource firmly at a Band 5.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as the introductory complex sentence introduced by 'while'. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent subject-verb agreement errors (e.g., 'students uses liberay', 'staff has the highest', 'students visits') and missing articles ('from distant learning for all courses'). Punctuation and word forms also show recurring inaccuracies. While simple sentences are generally manageable, attempts at more complex structures introduce errors that frequently require the reader to slow down. This corresponds to a Band 5.0 for grammatical range and accuracy.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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