Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-02
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 pie graph and table illustrates the outcome of a research of people who use the library at a university.
Overall, what stands out from the pie chart is that full-time undergraduate people use the library most and academic staff and distance learning population visit library the least. Another notable point is that people are very satisfied in helpfulness are higher than any other categories. Besides that in that category people are limited in fairly satisfied and empty in not satisfied.
From the pie graph it can be seen that the percentage of visitors of full-time undergraduate are the biggest and it is 44%. However, academic staff and distance learning members are lowest percantages throughout the chart. Furthermore, the percentages of part time and full-time postgraduate are 16% and 25% respectively.
In the table, the users of library opening hours percentage of very satisfied is 65% whereas fairly satisfied and not satisfied are 35% and 0%. Additionally,the highly satisfied people in helpfullness of staff are the biggest and the percentage is 95% while nor satisfied is 0% and fairly satisfied is only 5%.
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 partially addresses the task by attempting to summarise both the pie chart and the table, but the selection of information is incomplete and lacks balance. While you successfully identify key figures such as the highest user category (full-time undergraduates at 44%) and the peak satisfaction metric (helpfulness of staff at 95%), your overview and reporting of data contain inaccuracies and missing details. For instance, stating that academic staff and distance learning learners 'visit library the least' is acceptable, but the overall summary misses broader trends regarding the remaining table categories, such as book and journal availability. Furthermore, some of your descriptions of data are underdeveloped, and you omit key comparisons across the satisfaction categories for wifi or journals. To reach a higher level, you need to provide a more fully developed overview that covers all salient features of both visuals without missing key data trends.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
Your response demonstrates some organisation with a recognizable introduction, body paragraphs, and an overall attempt at grouping data from the two sources. However, the progression of information lacks clarity and smoothness. While you use basic cohesive devices such as 'However', 'Furthermore', and 'whereas', other transitions feel repetitive or awkward, such as 'Besides that in that category'. Paragraphing is attempted, but the internal flow within paragraphs is sometimes disjointed, making it harder for the reader to follow your comparisons. To improve in this criterion, you should ensure that your ideas are logically sequenced with a clearer overall progression, and use cohesive devices more naturally without overusing or misapplying them.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items and subject-specific terms such as 'percentage', 'satisfaction', 'undergraduate', and 'postgraduate'. However, your vocabulary control is inconsistent, and there are noticeable lexical errors and awkward collocations throughout the text, such as 'research of people who use', 'full-time undergraduate people', 'empty in not satisfied', and 'nor satisfied'. Word choices such as 'biggest' are overly simplistic for an academic report where 'largest' or 'highest' would be more appropriate. These errors do not completely impede communication, but they restrict your lexical score. To achieve a higher band, you should use a wider and more precise range of vocabulary with accurate collocations and natural academic phrasing.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
Your writing shows a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, with attempts at relative clauses and comparative structures, such as 'whereas fairly satisfied and not satisfied are 35% and 0%'. However, your control over grammar and punctuation is inconsistent, with frequent errors in subject-verb agreement and article usage, such as 'The given pie graph and table illustrates' (should be 'illustrate'), 'percentage of visitors... are the biggest' (should be 'is the largest'), and missing articles before nouns like 'helpfulness of staff'. Punctuation is also occasionally weak, missing commas after introductory phrases. These frequent grammatical slips can cause some difficulty for the reader. To improve, you need to increase your control over complex sentence structures and eliminate basic agreement and article errors.
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