Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-31

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 presented pie charts compares the percentages of british undergradutes able to speak other languges than English between 2000 and 2010. It is interesting to see that the majority of the pupils not able to speak other languges.

It can clearly be seen that in 2000, no other langauges can spoken by the students of university at under third, followed by, french and another languages accounted at half of the preivous, whereas Spanish at 20% students speaks. The smallest gruop of students speaks two other languages and french stood at 10%.

Turning to 2010, here same as 2000 students the highest proportion of the undergradutes not know other language accounted over third, followed two other languages at 15%. Spanish, french and German at 10% and another language incresed from the 2000 students at 20%.

Overall, the largest percentages of the students speak english only and lowest figure record at german.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the two years and report several relevant figures, including the rise in students speaking no other language from 30% to 35%, and the increase for another language from 15% to 20%. However, some key comparisons are unclear or inaccurate: in 2000, French and another language were each 15%, while Spanish was the largest additional-language category at 20%; your description of these proportions is difficult to follow. The statement that students speaking English only were the largest group is broadly supported by the 35% figure in 2010, but the overview does not clearly summarise the main changes across both charts. A more precise overview and clearer reporting of the categories would make the response more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, a paragraph about 2000, one about 2010, and a concluding overview. This gives the reader a basic route through the information, and phrases such as “Turning to 2010” help signal the shift between charts. However, progression within sentences is sometimes difficult to follow, particularly in “followed by, french and another languages accounted at half of the preivous.” Some linking is mechanical, and the final overview repeats the idea of the largest and smallest groups without clearly tying together the main changes. Use clearer comparisons and connect each figure directly to its category to improve cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some task-relevant vocabulary, including “percentages,” “proportion,” “accounted,” and “increased,” and you attempt to describe categories rather than simply list numbers. However, the range and control are limited, with repeated use of “students” and “language,” and several inaccurate or misspelled forms make the report less clear. For example, “undergradutes,” “languges,” and “preivous” distract from the data, while “the highest proportion … not know other language” is not a natural way to describe the category. Choose precise chart-reporting phrases such as “accounted for” and “the proportion who spoke no other language,” and check spelling carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentences, including comparisons between the years, but control is inconsistent. Errors in agreement and sentence construction appear in “The presented pie charts compares” and “the smallest gruop of students speaks two other languages and french stood at 10%.” Several clauses are incomplete or lack the grammatical links needed to show how the figures relate, as in “followed two other languages at 15%.” Articles, plurals, and verb forms also need attention; for example, “the majority of the pupils not able” requires a verb. Practise building accurate comparison sentences with a clear subject and verb, then check agreement and tense.

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

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