Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-13

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

Categories of library users

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The bar chart and tabel chart illustrates the catagories of library user and their satisfaction level for library.

Overall, majority of library user are full time undergraduate stuednts. While, people learning all courses form distance are lowest. Library members was largely satisfied by staff helping nature.

To begin with, 44 percent library members is full time undergraduate students. In contrast, only 25 percent library user is full time postgraduate. The lowest members of library are academic staff and distance learning with 7 percent and 8 percent respectively. The part time postgraduate students in library was 8 percent.

The 95 percent of library user was very satisfied by helpfulness of staff and 5 percent was fairly satisfied. However, 20 percent of members were not satisfied by the journal availability. While, in availability of books 45 percent of user was satisfied and 10 percent was not satisfied. The opening hours of library are rated satisfied by 65 percent and 35 percent find it fairly satisfied.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the main user group and note that staff helpfulness receives the strongest satisfaction, giving the response a relevant overview. Several figures, however, are inaccurate or incomplete: part-time postgraduates account for 16%, not 8%, and 25% refers to full-time postgraduates. You also describe 45% as satisfied with book availability, although 50% were very satisfied and 40% fairly satisfied; the 45% figure belongs to journals. The overview could compare the satisfaction results more fully, including the high ratings for opening hours and the lower results for journals and Wi-Fi. These misreadings and omissions mean the key features are only partly reported and some comparisons are unclear.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction and overview are followed by a paragraph on user categories and one on satisfaction. This makes the information easy to locate, and transitions such as “In contrast” and “However” help signal comparisons. The progression is not always smooth, though. “While” begins a fragment in the overview and again in the final paragraph, and the satisfaction paragraph moves between staff, journals, books and opening hours without a fully consistent comparison pattern. The overview also mentions staff satisfaction but does not preview the other main satisfaction findings. More deliberate grouping and complete linking sentences would make the progression more cohesive and less mechanical.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some task-relevant vocabulary, including “categories,” “satisfaction,” “availability” and “helpfulness,” and the reader can generally understand the intended comparisons. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, such as “tabel chart,” “library user,” “members of library” and “helping nature.” Spelling errors—including “catagories,” “stuednts” and “respectively” written with an extra space—also reduce accuracy. Repetition of “library user” and “satisfied” makes the report less precise. Aim for standard chart language such as “users,” “accounted for,” and “rated the service as,” while checking spelling and choosing natural collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response attempts some sentence variety, including a contrast with “In contrast” and a subordinate clause beginning “While,” but control is uneven. Subject–verb agreement errors occur in “44 percent library members is” and “Library members was,” while articles and plural forms are often missing or inconsistent. The sentence “While, people learning all courses form distance are lowest” is not a complete, well-formed clause, and “The opening hours … are rated satisfied” uses an inaccurate grammatical pattern. These errors sometimes make relationships between figures harder to follow. Practise accurate simple comparison sentences first, then add complex clauses with correct subjects, verbs and punctuation.

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