Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-21

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 5.5)

The two charts illustrate the proportion of British students at one university in England who were able to speak other languages in addition to English in 2000 and 2010.

Overall, no other language remained the highest spoken langauge in England in both years, while German only accounted for the shares. In addition, two other language and another language experienced nominal growth, whereas Spanish and French experienced declined in their proportions.

In 2000, no other languages was spoken highest in England among British students with over 30 percent, which was more than doubled of the figure of German and Two other languages at 10 percent. By 2010, the proportion of Spanish fell to 10 percent while, French dropped slightly to 10 percent from 15 percent.

The most dramatic change was another language which increased by 50 percent in 2010 from its own proportion ratio in 2000. In contrast, No other langauge has highest proportion.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student provides an overview and selects several key features from the charts, such as the dominance of 'no other language' and the changes in proportions for Spanish and French. However, there are notable inaccuracies and confusions in the reporting of the data. For instance, the text claims that German only accounted for the shares (which is unclear) and misinterprets the percentage increase of 'another language' by stating it increased by 50 percent, whereas it rose from 15% to 20%. Furthermore, some comparisons are vague or grammatically distorted, making parts of the data interpretation difficult to follow. While all main areas of the charts are touched upon, the lack of precision in data extraction and several misread figures prevent this response from achieving a higher band.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is structured into an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs, providing a logical framework for an academic report. Transitional phrases like 'Overall,' and 'By 2010,' are employed to guide the reader through the data. However, paragraphing is somewhat rudimentary, and cohesion is frequently faulty or mechanical. For example, the referencing in 'the figure of German and Two other languages at 10 percent' is confusing, as it conflates two distinct categories. Additionally, repetitive phrasing and awkward sentence connections in the concluding sentences weaken the overall flow and progression of the writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range to communicate basic trends, using terms such as 'proportion', 'growth', 'declined', and 'dramatic change'. However, there are numerous lexical inaccuracies and awkward word choices throughout the text. Examples include 'highest spoken langauge', 'experienced declined in their proportions', and 'proportion ratio'. Spelling errors also occur, such as 'langauge'. While the language is sufficient to convey the general topic, these persistent errors in word choice and morphology restrict the lexical score to the mid-band level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, incorporating relative clauses and comparative forms such as 'which was more than doubled of the figure of...'. However, grammatical control is inconsistent, with frequent errors that occasionally impede clarity. Noticeable errors include subject-verb agreement issues ('two other language and another language experienced', 'French and Spanish experienced declined'), missing articles ('was spoken highest'), and awkward prepositions. Complex sentence attempts are often clumsy, resulting in reduced accuracy across the majority of the sentences produced.

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