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 pie chart illustrates the results of a survey of library users at a university. While the table provides the rate of satisfaction of library users. Library users are defined as those who visit the library.

Overall data of full time undergraduate constitute majority and minority data of academic staff. With regard to the acceptance level, helpfulness of staff showed the most postive ratings in addition to this availability of journals recorded the highest number of dissatisfaction.

According to the pie chart, the full time undergraduates account for the largest population at 44%. Whereas, full time postgraduates consist of 25% which is also a good percentage. Though the rate of part time graduates is slightly low as 16%. However, the percentage of online learning and academic staff represent 8% and 7% respectively.

As for the second table, 65% of people are satisfied with the opening time and 35% are fairly satisfied and none are not satisfied. In terms of helpfulness of staff, almost everyone is satisfied only 5% are not happy and no one showed dissatisfaction. On the other hand, the satisfaction level of availability of books, journals and reliability of wifi has a proportion between 48 to 50%. While, the moderate acceptance level has a variance between 33 to 40%. Though, the result of dissatisfaction showed 10, 20, 19% individually.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers all parts of the task by reporting the main features of both the pie chart and the table. An overview is attempted, noting that full-time undergraduates constitute the majority and academic staff the minority, alongside a general mention of satisfaction levels. Key data points are accurately cited, such as full-time undergraduates at 44% and library opening hours satisfaction at 65%. However, there are some inaccuracies in reporting the table details; for instance, the writer claims that availability of journals recorded the highest dissatisfaction at 20%, whereas availability of books, journals, and Wi-Fi actually have varying proportions, and some statements contain slight misinterpretations of the figures (e.g., confusing 'fairly satisfied' and 'not satisfied' percentages in the final paragraph). Despite these minor data reading errors, the main features and comparisons are adequately presented, earning a solid Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is organized into four paragraphs, moving from an introduction to the chart overview, then detailing the pie chart data, and finally discussing the table. There is a clear logical progression overall, and cohesive devices are employed, such as 'According to the pie chart', 'Whereas', and 'On the other hand'. However, paragraphing and sentence linking are sometimes awkward or mechanical. For example, starting sentences with conjunctions like 'Though' and 'While' leads to fragmented or grammatically incomplete dependent clauses. Additionally, referencing is occasionally imprecise, such as 'As for the second table' and 'the satisfaction level of availability of books, journals and reliability of wifi has a proportion between 48 to 50%', which lacks clarity regarding which rating category is being described. Cohesion is functional but can be improved for better flow.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, incorporating terms such as 'illustrates', 'proportion', 'majority', 'minority', and 'satisfaction level'. There are successful attempts to use less common vocabulary like 'constitute', 'respectively', and 'dissatisfaction'. However, lexical control is inconsistent. There are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'rate of acceptance' instead of 'level of satisfaction', 'postive' (spelling error), and 'moderate acceptance level' when describing dissatisfaction ratings. Furthermore, some phrasing is overly simplistic or repetitive (e.g., 'good percentage', 'amount to', 'showed'). While communication is not impeded, these lexical inaccuracies and spelling slips restrict the score to Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and introductory prepositional phrases. However, grammatical accuracy is uneven. There are several punctuation and sentence-structure errors, particularly sentence fragments and comma splices, such as 'While the table provides the rate of satisfaction of library users. Library users are defined as...' and 'While, the moderate acceptance level has a variance between 33 to 40%. Though, the result of dissatisfaction showed 10, 20, 19% individually.' Subject-verb agreement and article use also show occasional lapses (e.g., 'the full time undergraduates', 'part time graduates is slightly low as 16%'). Because these errors frequently recur and cause some difficulty for the reader, the grammar performance aligns best with Band 5.5.

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