Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-09

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 6.5)

The pie charts illustrate the percentage of British students in an English university who could speak foreign languages apart from English between the year 2000 and 2010.

Overall, the percentage of students able to speak Spanish, and French decreased, while other language speakers and no other language speakers increased respectively.

In the year 2000, 20% of students could speak only Spanish language besides English, which experienced a decline to 10% in the year 2010. Additionally, only French speaker's percentage also went down by 5%. No other language speakers' percentage has also soared from 30% to 35%. However, the percentage of other language speakers, as well as two other language speakers went up from 15% to 20%, and 10% to 15% respectively, in the past 10 years. Surprisingly, percentage of students who speak only German as well as English, have not gone through any change at all, and remained in 10% from 2000 to 2010.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The response identifies the main overall shifts accurately: Spanish and French declined, while the no-other-language, another-language and two-other-languages categories increased; German remained unchanged. It also supports these points with relevant figures, including Spanish falling from 20% to 10% and the no-other-language group rising from 30% to 35%. This gives a clear overview and covers the key comparisons. The French figure is less precisely reported: “went down by 5%” should specify the change from 15% to 10%. Also, the overview groups “other language speakers and no other language speakers” together as increasing, which is understandable but could distinguish these categories more clearly. More precise reporting of every change would strengthen an otherwise well-focused summary.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response is organised clearly, moving from an introduction to an overview and then to comparisons of individual categories. Linking expressions such as “Additionally,” “However,” and “Surprisingly” help signal relationships, and the figures are generally presented in a logical sequence. This provides a coherent overall progression. However, the final paragraph places several separate comparisons into one block, and some transitions feel mechanical or do not express a meaningful contrast—for example, “However” introduces increases that do not directly oppose the preceding point. The overview could also separate the two rising categories more explicitly. Use paragraphing and linking words to show the main groupings of trends, rather than relying on a connector for each new statistic.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The vocabulary is adequate for describing the charts, with useful terms such as “percentage,” “decline,” “remained,” and “increased.” The writer also attempts a range of expressions, including “soared” and “gone through any change,” showing some flexibility. At times, however, word choice or collocation is imprecise: “only Spanish language” and “only French speaker’s percentage” are awkward, while “soared” overstates a rise of five percentage points. “Foreign languages” is understandable, but “other languages” more closely matches the chart categories. Aim for precise, neutral reporting vocabulary and natural collocations; this will make the comparisons sound more controlled without requiring more elaborate wording.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

There is a mix of simple and more complex sentence forms, and the main comparisons are generally understandable. For example, the sentence beginning “However, the percentage of other language speakers…” combines two trends and their figures successfully. Some grammatical errors remain, though they rarely prevent the reader from understanding the data. In “French speaker’s percentage also went down,” the possessive form is not appropriate, and “No other language speakers’ percentage has also soared” has an awkward tense construction; use a consistent past-tense form for the chart years. The sentence about German also has a subject–verb agreement problem (“percentage … have not”). Check agreement, articles, and tense consistency, especially in longer sentences, while retaining the range of structures already attempted.

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