Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-19
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 illustrate the outcomes of a survey taken of people that use the university library.
Overall, majority of the library users are satisfied and a very small propotion is dissatisfied. Majority of the users are full time students, a few percentage is either part-time students or staff.
The satisfied propotion of people is large. Users are happy with respect to the library opening time, helpfull attitude of the library staff, availability of books and journals and wi-fi connectivity. The highest satisfactory area is the helping attitude of the staff as 95% of surveys are very satisfied by this. 100% of the users are happy with the opening timings and helping staff. 90%, 80% and 81% of the users are happy with the availability of books, journals and wi-fi connectivity respectively.
A very small ratio of people are dissatisfied by the inavailability of books and journals and wi-fi disconnections. Most displasure is noted at the absence of jounals which is 20% of the 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 covers both parts of the prompt, successfully summarising the pie chart regarding library users and the table showing satisfaction levels. An overview is provided, noting general high satisfaction and that full-time undergraduates form the majority. However, some data reporting contains inaccuracies or oversimplifications; for instance, the student states that '100% of the users are happy with the opening timings' by summing very satisfied (65) and fairly satisfied (35), but misses that some categories are aggregated percentages of satisfaction rather than total counts. Furthermore, calculations like combining percentages or stating '90%, 80% and 81%' lack precision when referencing the underlying table. Overall, the task is addressed, but data reporting lacks accuracy in places, aligning the response with a Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt at paragraphing, separating the introduction, overview, user categories, and satisfaction details. Logical connectors such as 'Overall,' and 'The satisfied proportion of people is large.' help guide the reader. However, referencing is sometimes repetitive ('A very small proportion...', 'Majority of the users...'), and cohesive devices are occasionally mechanical or slightly faulty. Paragraphing is present, but the development within paragraphs feels somewhat disjointed due to abrupt transitions between sentences. This demonstrates the characteristics of Band 6.0.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms like 'outcomes', 'proportion', 'connectivity', and 'displeasure'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors, such as 'propotion' (proportion), 'helpfull' (helpful), 'inavailability' (unavailability), and 'displasure' (displeasure). Attempts to use less common vocabulary sometimes lead to awkward collocations or misspellings. Because these lexical errors do not significantly impede communication but restrict precision, the vocabulary performance fits a Band 5.5 to 6.0 descriptor, leaning firmly towards Band 6.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The text contains a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'The given chart and table illustrate the outcomes...' and 'The highest satisfactory area is the helping attitude of the staff as 95% of surveys are very satisfied by this.' There are several grammatical errors and awkward phrasings, such as 'survey taken of people that use' (survey of people who use) and '95% of surveys' instead of '95% of surveyed users'. Punctuation and articles are occasionally misused, but these errors rarely impede overall communication, supporting a Band 6.0 score.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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