Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-15

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The table below shows the numbers of visitors to Ashdown Museum during the year before and the year after it was refurbished. The charts show the result of surveys asking visitors how satisfied they were with their visit, during the same two periods.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Student answer (Band 4.5)

The provided table illustrates the numbers of visitors to Ashdown Museum during the year before and the year after it was refurbished. The charts show the result of surveys asking visitors how satisfied they were with their visit, during the same two periods..

Overall, it is readily apparent that while Ashdown Museum experienced an upward trend throughout the period, visitors followed a contrasting pattern, with the remaining elements showing distinct variations.

A closer examination of the data reveals that in the first step, Ashdown Museum stood at 74,000, which was considerably different than visitors at 92,000. Over the subsequent stages, Ashdown Museum progressed steadily, eventually reaching a key milestone by the [end of the period. Conversely, visitors exhibited a persistent trend, settling by the conclusion.

With regard to the remaining data, refurbishment commenced at 74,000 and underwent a fluctuating pattern before settling at 92,000 in the final stage. Meanwhile, minor variations characterized the intermediate points, though the overall distribution remained relatively distinct among all categories.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0

The response makes a weak attempt to address the task, but contains significant flaws in data reporting and interpretation. While the overall visitor numbers (74,000 and 92,000) are mentioned, the student completely fails to report the survey results regarding visitor satisfaction, which form a major part of the visual data. Furthermore, the writing relies on vague, generic phrasing ('progressed steadily', 'settling by the conclusion') rather than accurately summarising the specific trends in the charts and table. The confusion between the museum entity and the visitors ('Ashdown Museum stood at 74,000, which was considerably different than visitors at 92,000') indicates a poor understanding of the provided information. This leads to an underdeveloped response that misses key features of the prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.5

The text is organized into paragraphs with an introduction and some concluding remarks, providing a basic framework. However, the progression of ideas is frequently impeded by confusing logic and inappropriate cohesive devices. For instance, the use of 'Conversely' and 'Meanwhile' does not accurately signal the relationships between the data points being discussed. Referencing is also faulty, as seen in the phrase 'visitors followed a contrasting pattern, with the remaining elements showing distinct variations,' which lacks clear antecedent meaning. Paragraphing is present, but the internal logical flow suffers significantly due to inaccuracies in how information is linked.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.5

The vocabulary used is largely repetitive and, in places, inaccurate regarding context. Phrases like 'in the first step', 'key milestone', and 'persistent trend' are awkwardly applied to statistical data where terms like 'initial figure', 'increase', or 'stability' are expected. Furthermore, confusing the museum's visitor numbers with the museum itself ('Ashdown Museum stood at 74,000') demonstrates a weak grasp of lexical collocation. While some basic vocabulary is handled adequately, the lack of precision and inappropriate use of less common lexical items restrict the effectiveness of the communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.5

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as subordinate clauses ('while Ashdown Museum experienced an upward trend...'). However, grammatical accuracy is low, and many sentences contain awkward phrasing or errors that cause difficulty for the reader. Examples include comparative inaccuracies ('considerably different than visitors') and strained structural patterns ('refurbishment commenced at 74,000', where refurbishment is incorrectly substituted for the visitor count). Punctuation errors also appear, such as a double period at the end of the first paragraph. The frequency of grammatical slips prevents the response from achieving a higher band.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.