Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-11-03

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 pie chart displays the percentage of students from Great Britian at a university who can speak languages other than english during the period of 2000 to 2010.

Overall the ratio of student who speak no other language except english remained high even increase from 30 to 35 percent in a decade. Where as graduates who spoke spanish and french were more then those of german beside english like 20, 15 and 10 but this difference ended up on equality of all to 10 percent in 2010 for all three languages among total students. Further more the ratio of students who spoke two other languages and another language except the mentioned ones by name also rose from 10 to 15 and 15 to 20 percent in a decade.

In conclusion there has been random variation in the ratio of pupils knowing languages other than english and proportion of students who don't speak other language increased which clearly show that interest in learning other language has lessened during the mentioned period.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main overall pattern: the share reporting no other language rose from 30% to 35%, while the proportions for Spanish and French fell and those for other and two other languages increased. The figures you give for these categories match the charts, and you also note that German remained at 10%. However, the overview is weakened by the claim that there was “random variation” and the conclusion that interest in learning languages “has lessened”; the charts show proportions, not reasons or interest. The comparison of the three named languages in 2010 is also imprecise: French and Spanish were 10% each, as was German. A more neutral overview and clearer reporting of the main shifts would make the response more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure, moving from an introduction to an overview and then a concluding comment, and the main comparisons are generally easy to follow. Linking expressions such as “Overall,” “Whereas,” and “Furthermore” help signal relationships between ideas. However, the final paragraph repeats the overview rather than adding useful chart information, and “Whereas” begins a fragment rather than a complete contrast. The long overview sentence also combines several comparisons, making the relationships less clear. Organise the details into a separate paragraph and use direct comparisons—for example, group the declining language categories together and then the rising categories—to create smoother progression and more precise cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant chart vocabulary, including “percentage,” “ratio,” “proportion,” and “increased,” and the reader can understand the broad trends. There is some attempt at variety, but several choices are inaccurate or unnatural for describing data. “Random variation” does not accurately describe the clear changes shown, while “interest … has lessened” makes an unsupported interpretation. Phrases such as “graduates who spoke” and “languages … by name” are also imprecise in this context. Spelling and capitalisation slips, including “Britian,” “english,” and “spanish,” reduce accuracy. Choose neutral terms such as “students,” “share,” and “category,” and use consistent capitalisation for language names.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentence forms, and the main message is usually understandable. However, some sentence structures are incomplete or awkward, including “Where as graduates who spoke Spanish and French…” and “like 20, 15 and 10,” which does not form a clear grammatical comparison. There are also errors in agreement and number, as in “the ratio of student … remained high even increase,” and the phrase “which clearly show” does not agree with its subject. Articles and prepositions are sometimes missing or misplaced. Use complete sentences with a clear subject and verb, and check agreement and tense—for example, “the proportion of students who spoke no other language increased from 30% to 35%.”

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.