Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-28
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 outcomes of a survey of different categories of library members at a university.
Overall, the survey indicates the major users were the undergrad students, while academic staff and remote learners used the least. Whereas, most of these users were fully satisfied with the helpfulness of staff. Only a small fraction of pupils remaind dissatisfied with the availability of books. Almost half of the users were all satisfied with the wi-fi, journals, and liberary opening hours. However, the satisfaction remaind more or less equal for fairly and fully satisfied people with the availability of journals, books, and wi-fi.
Firstly, looking into the detailed information, it is evident that the full-time university bachelor's students remained frequent users constituting 44% of the fraction. In contrast, full-time and half-time postgraduate students contributed 25% and 16% respectively. However, the teaching staff and online learners stood at the end making up only a small proportion of library users.
Secondly, it can be seen that majority of the users were very satisfied with the helfulness of staff, and library opening hours. Only a few people were fairly satisfied consisting 35% of them. In addition, there were a few people, between 10-20 who were not satisfied with the availability of books and journals. Additionally, fair satisfaction of peers continued side by side with the access of former and latter.
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 student covers all parts of the prompt by presenting information from both the pie chart and the satisfaction table. An overview is provided in the second paragraph, highlighting the main trends such as the dominance of full-time undergraduates and high satisfaction with staff helpfulness. However, some data points are misreported or vague. For instance, the student states that "almost half of the users were all satisfied with the wi-fi, journals, and library opening hours," whereas the chart shows 65% for opening hours and 50% for books, making 'almost half' imprecise for some categories. Additionally, the phrase "between 10-20 who were not satisfied" lacks clarity regarding whether these are percentages or absolute numbers. The response generally addresses the task well, but precision in reporting figures keeps it at a Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The response is logically organised into paragraphs, starting with an introduction and overview, followed by separate body paragraphs for the user categories and satisfaction data. Cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'Firstly', 'In contrast', and 'Secondly' are employed to structure the text, though some transitions feel a bit mechanical or forced. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct visual elements. While referencing is generally clear, occasional awkward phrasing in transitions—such as "fair satisfaction of peers continued side by side with the access of former and latter"—disrupts the smooth flow of ideas. Overall, the organisation is coherent enough to merit a Band 6.0.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'constituting', 'proportion', and 'fraction'. However, there are notable spelling errors ('remaind' instead of remained, 'liberary' instead of library, 'helfulness' instead of helpfulness) and awkward word choices like "half-time postgraduate" instead of part-time postgraduate. Word formation and collocation issues occasionally surface, such as "the satisfaction remaind more or less equal for fairly and fully satisfied people". These lexical inaccuracies do not prevent understanding, but they restrict the score to a Band 6.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and introductory subordinate clauses (e.g., "While most of these users were fully satisfied..."). However, control over grammar and punctuation is inconsistent. There are several tense and spelling errors, such as "remaind" and "majority of the users were very satisfied... consisting 35% of them" (which uses a dangling participle structure). Another error is found in "between 10-20 who were not satisfied", omitting percentage signs or units. While these errors rarely impede overall communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the text from reaching a Band 7.0.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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