Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-24

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 bar chart illustrates the proportion of students who speaks another language other than english in two different years

Overall the biggest proprtion of language spoken was spanish followed closely by french

In 2000 the most spkoen language of british students after english was spanish at 20% followed closely by french at 15 % and german at 10 % while 30 % of the students only spoke english

In 2010 there were a few changes in proportion of the languages spoken by british students in which the largest amount of them spoke another language follwed by spanish and french at 10 each which had a drop down in comparison to 2000 followed closely by germany which is stable at 10 % in both ther respective years. There was also a surge in the percentage of students who only spoke english from 30 to 35 percent subsequently there were students who also spoke more than 2 languages

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify several relevant figures, including Spanish at 20% in 2000, French at 15%, and the rise in students speaking no other language from 30% to 35%. However, the overview is inaccurate: Spanish was not the largest category overall, and by 2010 “no other language” was the largest at 35%. You also say Spanish and French were both at 10% in 2010, but omit the important increases in “another language” (15% to 20%) and “two other languages” (10% to 15%). The final claim about students speaking “more than 2 languages” is not supported; the chart reports two other languages. More accurate selection and comparison of the main trends would make the summary more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic sequence: an introduction, an overview, and separate comments on 2000 and 2010. This gives the reader some sense of organisation, and comparisons such as “from 30 to 35 percent” are useful. However, the overview conflicts with the later details, and the long 2010 sentence combines several trends without clear boundaries. Linking phrases such as “followed by” are repeated, while “subsequently” does not clearly express the relationship between the ideas that follow it. Use distinct paragraphs and organise the data by meaningful changes—for example, declining language categories versus increasing categories—to create clearer progression and more reliable cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some task-relevant vocabulary, including “proportion,” “largest,” “drop,” and “stable,” and the reader can generally understand the comparisons you intend. However, the range is limited and several choices are inaccurate or awkward: “bar chart” misidentifies the pie charts, “most spoken language” is not a natural description here, and “surge” overstates a five-percentage-point increase. Spelling errors such as “proprtion,” “spkoen,” and “follwed” also reduce accuracy. Aim for precise chart language and check spelling carefully; terms such as “share,” “category,” “rose,” and “remained unchanged” would help describe the data more naturally.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple statements and longer sentences with comparisons, and the main meaning is usually recoverable. However, control is uneven, particularly in the extended sentence beginning “In 2010 there were a few changes,” where several clauses are joined without clear punctuation or structure. There are also agreement and article problems in “the proportion of students who speaks” and “the largest amount of them,” as well as inconsistent sentence punctuation and capitalisation. These issues make some relationships harder to follow. Practise accurate subject–verb agreement (“students who speak”) and divide long comparisons into shorter sentences, using commas and full stops to show how each figure relates.

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