Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-17
IELTS Writing Task 1 question
The charts below show the proportions of British students at one university in England who were able to speak other languages in addition to English, in 2000 and 2010
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Student answer (Band 5.0)
The pie charts describes a how many percentage of British students to speak languages other than English between 2000 and 2010.
Overall, the pie charts show the difference between [redacted phone] to how percentage British student additional languages speak other than English. The highest percentage of no other language in 2000 and 2010.
In 2000, Spanish was the most commonly spoken additional language, accountable for 20% of British students. French was the second most popular, at 15%, while German and another language each represented 10% and 15%, respectively. Meanwhile, 30% of students could not speak any language other than English, and 10% could speak two other languages.
By 2010, the percentage of students speaking Spanish had a decreased from 20% to 10%, while the figure for French fell increasingly from15% to 20%. The proportion speaking German remained stable at 10%, and two other languages rose from 10% to 15%. Finally proposal to the no other language increased to the 35%.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The student attempts to address the prompt by reporting data from the two pie charts comparing British students' language abilities in 2000 and 2010. However, there are significant factual inaccuracies in data reporting. For instance, the student states that the figure for French fell from '15% to 20%', which contradicts both the chart data (falling to 10%) and basic logic. Additionally, phrases like 'Finally proposal to the no other language' reflect confused referencing and inaccurate data relay. While an overview is attempted, it is awkwardly phrased and lacks clarity. The response covers the main features, but the data errors and lack of precision in describing trends pull the score down into the lower-middle band.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The response is organized into paragraphs, including an introduction, an overview, and separate body paragraphs for the years 2000 and 2010. However, cohesion and logical progression are frequently hindered by awkward phrasing and mechanical transitions, such as 'Finally proposal to the no other language'. Paragraphing is present, but internal cohesion within sentences often breaks down, making the flow disjointed. Referencing is sometimes unclear, and the overall progression from sentence to sentence lacks the smooth management expected at higher bands.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The lexical range is limited and repetitive. The student relies on basic vocabulary and struggles with precise collocations, such as 'accountable for' instead of 'accounted for', and 'languages speak other than English'. There are noticeable word-choice errors and unnatural expressions, such as 'proposal to the no other language' instead of 'proportion of students with no other language'. While the vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey the general topic, inaccuracies and awkward phrasing restrict the score.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response contains a mix of simple and attempting complex sentence structures, but grammatical accuracy is weak. There are frequent errors in basic sentence construction, such as 'The pie charts describes a how many percentage of British students to speak languages', where subject-verb agreement and clause structures fail. Other errors include missing prepositions and incorrect verb forms, such as 'had a decreased' and 'fell increasingly from 15% to 20%'. While some sentences are clear, the density of grammatical errors causes noticeable difficulty for the reader.
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.