Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-01

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

Categories of library users

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The pie-chart and tabular information below show the results of a survey of library users at a university.

Overall, the majority of the library users are the full-time undergratuates which accounts for 44% and the least users were the Academic staff with 7% of the total users. Full-time postgraduate and Part-time postgradute library users were 25% and 16% respectively. Distance learning students of all courses also uses library and account for 8%.

95% of users were very satisfied with the helpness of the staff and only 5% were fairly satisfied and 45% were very satisfied with the opening hours of the library and 35% were fairly satisfied. 45%, 48% and 50% users were very satisfied with the availability of journals, Realiability of wi-fi and availability of books respectively, followed by the fairly satisfied users which are 35%, 33% and 40% respectively. Not satisfied users for availabilty of books and journals were 10% and 20% respectively , followed by the reliabilty of wi-fi which were 19%.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main user group accurately: full-time undergraduates make up 44%, while academic staff are the smallest group at 7%. You also report the other user categories and cover all five satisfaction topics, including the high satisfaction with staff helpfulness and the lower results for journals and Wi-Fi. However, one important figure is misreported: 45% were very satisfied with opening hours, whereas the chart shows 65%; 35% were fairly satisfied. The overview is present, but it mainly describes the user categories and does not clearly summarise the overall satisfaction pattern, such as staff helpfulness receiving the strongest rating. A more selective overview and accurate reporting of key comparisons would make the response more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview of user categories, and a paragraph on satisfaction. This gives the reader a basic route through the information, and phrases such as “followed by” help connect related figures. However, the satisfaction paragraph becomes a long sequence of percentages, making comparisons difficult to follow. The opening-hours figures are also placed in the same sentence as staff satisfaction, and the final list of dissatisfied users is not clearly separated from the preceding comparisons. Use clearer grouping—for example, discuss the strongest satisfaction results first, then compare books, journals and Wi-Fi—and use shorter sentences with explicit references to each category.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant task vocabulary, including “very satisfied,” “fairly satisfied,” “availability,” and “accounts for,” so the meaning is generally clear. There is also some variation in how you refer to the user groups. However, spelling and word-form errors are noticeable, including “undergratuates,” “postgradute,” “helpness,” “availabilty,” and “realiability.” Some expressions are also imprecise or awkward: “the least users” would be better expressed as “the smallest group,” and “users … were” is less natural than “users … were satisfied.” Check spelling carefully and use consistent labels such as “full-time postgraduate students.” More precise collocations would make the data description smoother and easier to read.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use both simple statements and longer sentences, and most of the information remains understandable. The sentence beginning “Full-time postgraduate and Part-time postgradute library users were 25% and 16% respectively” shows an attempt to compare categories in one structure. However, some grammatical errors reduce accuracy. For example, “Distance learning students … also uses” has subject–verb disagreement; use “also use.” In “the majority … are the full-time undergratuates which accounts for 44%,” the relative clause does not agree clearly with its antecedent; “who account for 44%” is more suitable. The satisfaction paragraph also relies on lengthy sentences joined by “and.” Break these into shorter, controlled comparisons and check agreement and clause structure.

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