Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-17
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 illustrates the questionare result among different people for using library at a teaching institute.
Overall, full-time undergraduates hold the most proportion; however the academic staff with the least. On the other hand a huge number of them showed the most satisfaction with the library opening hours with highlighing the poorly satisfaction level on the availability of journals.
The library using candidates of category full-time undergraduates demonstrate the percentage of 44% and become the most users. Followed by full-time postgraduate displayed the second most in spending time at a study centre. Moreover the academic staff spent the lowest hours in a book centre and got just 7% overall. Others like part-time postgraduate and distance learning obtain 16% and 8%.
The table display that among all the individuals numerous of them like 65% are extremely satisfied with the library opening hours with no one having any problem,while the availability of journals pointed out the issues some of them about 20% facing with it.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response covers the main features of both the pie chart and the table, noting that full-time undergraduates make up the largest category of library users (44%) while academic staff represent the smallest (7%). It also highlights key satisfaction data, such as the high satisfaction with opening hours (65%) and lower satisfaction regarding the availability of journals (20% not satisfied). An overview is attempted in the second paragraph, although it is slightly disjointed. While some figures are approximate and language is awkward in places, the response adequately satisfies the requirements of Task 1 by reporting key data points and making valid comparisons. It aligns well with the Band 6 descriptors.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is divided into an introduction, an overview paragraph, and two body paragraphs, providing a coherent overall structure. However, paragraphing and logical progression are sometimes hindered by awkward phrasing and mechanical cohesive devices. For example, transition phrases like 'On the other hand' are used inappropriately where contrast is not required. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as 'a huge number of them showed' where the antecedent is slightly ambiguous. Paragraphing is present and generally attempts to separate the chart data from the table data, earning a solid Band 6 score.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully referring to percentages, categories, and satisfaction levels ('proportion', 'satisfaction level', 'postgraduate'). However, there are notable word-choice errors and awkward collocations throughout the text, such as 'questionare result' (questionnaire results), 'highlighing the poorly satisfaction level' (highlighting the low satisfaction level), and 'library using candidates' (library users). Less common lexical items are attempted but often inaccurate. Spelling errors like 'questionare' also occur. These errors do not seriously impede communication, placing the response firmly at Band 5.5 to 6.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but grammatical control is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in verb forms, prepositions, and sentence structure, such as 'The pie chart and table illustrates' (subject-verb agreement error), 'academic staff with the least' (missing verb), and 'the availability of journals pointed out the issues some of them about 20% facing with it' (clunky and ungrammatical relative clause structure). Punctuation errors also appear, such as missing commas after introductory phrases and spacing issues around commas. While simple sentences are generally understandable, complex structures often contain errors that cause some difficulty, fitting the Band 5.0 descriptors.
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