Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-16
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 given chart and table illustrates the result of survey conducted on library users at a university.
Overall, students attending university physically account as a major users of library and user satisfaction table shows that staff is very helpful.
The pie chart shows the variety of users accessing library. As expected library is used by students largely as compared to academic staff, they account for 93 percent of users leaving 7 percentage for academic staff. Among students major portion is acquired by full time students with approximately 70 percent in whole distribution.
The table demonstrates the user satisfaction in many categories. Users are satisfied with library opening hours and 95% of users are satisfied with the staff help. Half of the users are not satisfied with the range of availability of books and journals and Wi-Fi reliability, majority of other half is fairly satisfied with the range of books, journals and Wi-Fi reliability.
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 prompt by summarising both the pie chart and the table. An overview is provided, noting that full-time students are the major library users and that overall satisfaction is high. Key features are selected and reported, such as full-time undergraduates accounting for 44 percent, and the high satisfaction with staff helpfulness at 95 percent. However, there are some minor inaccuracies in reporting the data: the student states that 'half of the users are not satisfied with the range of availability of books and journals and Wi-Fi reliability', whereas the table shows that 10%, 20%, and 19% were 'not satisfied' with these categories, which is significantly less than half. Despite this misinterpretation of percentages, the main trends are adequately captured, placing the response firmly at Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The text has a clear overall arrangement with an introductory paragraph, an overview, and separate body paragraphs addressing the chart and the table respectively. Cohesive devices are used to guide the reader, such as 'Overall', 'Among students', and 'The table demonstrates'. However, referencing and paragraphing could be smoother. The second sentence of the overview awkwardly combines user type and satisfaction ('students attending university physically account as a major users... and user satisfaction table shows...'). Paragraph transitions are mechanical rather than fully integrated, resulting in a cohesive score of 6.0.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with attempts at less common phrasing such as 'major portion is acquired by' and 'distribution'. There are, however, several lexical errors and awkward word choices, such as 'illustrates the result of survey' (missing an article), 'major users' instead of 'majority of users', and '7 percentage' instead of '7 percent'. Spelling and word forms are generally correct, but the vocabulary is occasionally repetitive or imprecise, demonstrating the typical profile of a Band 6.0 performance.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence forms. Examples of complex structures include 'As expected library is used by students largely as compared to academic staff, they account for 93 percent...'. Punctuation is weak, notably with run-on sentences and comma splices (e.g., separating independent clauses with commas). There are noticeable grammatical errors throughout, such as 'chart and table illustrates' (subject-verb agreement error) and missing articles ('a survey', 'the library'). While these errors do not severely impede communication, they occur frequently, justifying a band score of 5.5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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