Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-02

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)

Below, the chart represnts the comaprison between the number of british students studying at a university in England, who were able to speak additional languages other than English in 2000 and 2010.

Overall in 2000, majority of the students were not able to speak additional languages other than english.But those who were able to speak were speaking Spanish mostly,followed by French. In 2010, the trend of not speaking additional languages continues, as still in 2010 majority of the students speak English only.But in 2010, students prefer to speak other additional languages than Spanish and French.As their share decreases in 2010 as comapred to 2000.

In 2000, 30% of students speak English only, followed by Spanish (20%) and French (15%) whereas the trend of speaking other languages and two other languages remained at 15% and 10% respectively.On the other hand, in 2010, the number of students not speaking other languages reamined dominant with 5% increase to 35% as compared to 2000 (30%). The Spanish and French also loses their share to 10% each, as the trend between the students of speaking other languges and two other languages rose to 20% and 10% respectively.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the task partially, covering the main features of the charts such as the dominant percentages for English only and the shifts in specific languages like Spanish and French. However, some ideas are limited and under-developed, particularly regarding the finer comparisons between the years. While an overview is attempted in the second paragraph, it lacks precision and fails to fully highlight all the notable trends across the two years. The data is generally reported, but some figures are described with slight inaccuracies, such as misinterpreting the specific breakdown of the categories.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is a basic organisation evident with a clear introduction, body, and conclusion-like breakdown, but the response lacks an overall clear progression. Cohesive devices are used, but they are sometimes repetitive or inaccurate, leading to mechanical transitions between sentences and paragraphs. For instance, the use of transitions like 'whereas' and 'on the other hand' attempts to link ideas, but referencing is occasionally unclear, and the internal flow between sentences feels disjointed in places.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate for the task. There are noticeable lexical errors, such as spelling mistakes ('represnts', 'comaprison', 'reamined') and awkward word choices ('the trend of not speaking additional languages continues', 'loses their share'). These inaccuracies sometimes cause slight difficulty for the reader. The student attempts some less common vocabulary related to the charts, but control is inconsistent, restricting the range of vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response shows a limited range of structures, relying mostly on simple sentences alongside a few attempts at complex ones which are often faulty. There are frequent grammatical errors, including tense inconsistencies (mixing present and past tense like 'represnts' and 'were'), punctuation issues, and missing articles or preposition errors. These frequent errors can cause some difficulty for the reader, though the general meaning remains mostly decipherable.

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

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