Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-01

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 shown illustrates the outcome of users's survey at the university's library. The pie chart mainly covers the categories of users in library. While the table lists proportions of user's satisfaction in different aspects in the library.

Overall, the most high percentage of users in the library are full time undergraduates. while the most less users are from academic staff. The table tells that people are most likely satisfied with its staff cooperation , whereas they complain about availability of journals

The pie chart shows that there is a similarity among distance learning and academic staff. They have a little share in the proportions of pie chart with likely 7 to 8 percentages. However, the full-time undergraduates use the library most with the proportions they have is 44%. Although the full-time postgraduates also have a large share but they just only share 25% of the chart. While the part time postgraduates only share 16%.

The table summarises level of user's satisfaction in percentages. The most satisfied aspect in the table is the staff's help towards users as it is 95% out of 100%. The availability of journals is a major concern here as only 45% of them agree with its full satisfaction, 35% of them are fairly satisfied and 20% are not satisfied with it.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by covering both the pie chart and the table, presenting an overview and selecting main features. However, some areas are under-developed or contain minor inaccuracies in data interpretation. For example, the student writes that "academic staff" and "distance learning" have a similarity and share "7 to 8 percentages", which is mostly accurate, but the overall selection of data tends to list figures mechanically rather than fully synthesising the comparisons. The overview captures the highest category (full-time undergraduates) and the highest satisfaction aspect (staff help), but the description of secondary details could be more thoroughly integrated. To reach a higher band, the response needs to extend and support its comparisons more consistently across all data points without relying on repetitive listing.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response presents an overall coherent arrangement, successfully dividing the text into an introduction, an overall summary, and two body paragraphs that logically address the pie chart and the table in turn. Progression is generally clear, though some transitional phrasing feels mechanical or repetitive, such as starting multiple sentences with "The pie chart..." or "The table...". Cohesive devices are used, but referencing is occasionally faulty, for instance using "they" ambiguously when discussing survey respondents. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to structure the response, but more sophisticated and varied cohesive links would be required to lift the organization to the next level.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, attempting some less common items such as "proportions", "satisfaction", and "availability". However, there are noticeable inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and word form, such as "users's survey", "the most high percentage", and "the most less users". Additionally, phrases like "staff cooperation" and "staff's help" show a limited range of academic phrasing. Spelling is generally fine, but lexical errors and awkward collocations prevent the response from achieving a higher band. Incorporating more precise academic synonyms and natural collocations would improve this score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting relative clauses and subordinate structures like "While the table lists proportions..." and "The most satisfied aspect... is the staff's help towards users as it is 95% out of 100%". However, there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ("The chart and table... illustrates"), missing articles ("at university's library"), and awkward phrasing in complex structures. These errors require some effort to decode at times, though they rarely completely impede communication. Better control over basic grammatical patterns and punctuation is needed to progress.

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