User-written IELTS example

Writing Academic Task 1 Band 5.0 Example

Original task prompt, user essay, band score, and related examples in the same report workspace.

202 words AcademicTask 1Bar Chart

Task 1

Illustrative target band for this original model answer.

Plan your answer

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Ideas to explore

Identify the category that dominates throughout: social welfare leads in all three years, reaching its highest figure in 2014.
Separate steady increases from fluctuating or recovering patterns: health and wildlife rise each year, whereas social welfare falls before rebounding.
Notice categories that finish at or near their starting values: education returns to 8, while environment ends at 7 compared with 8 initially.

Suggested structure

Introduce the chart by naming the measure, the six charity types and the 2012–2014 period.
Give an overview identifying the largest category and the broad direction of change.
Describe social welfare separately because its figures are much higher and fluctuate notably.
Group the remaining categories by pattern, comparing their starting, middle and final figures.
End with a concise comparison of which categories finished higher, level or lower than in 2012.

Useful vocabulary & examples

a steady upward path: A consistent increase across successive years.
Health followed a steady upward path, rising from 6 to 9.
fell before recovering: Decreased at first and then rose again.
Environment fell to 5 before recovering to 7.
returned to its starting figure: Ended at the same value as at the beginning.
Education returned to its starting figure of 8 in 2014.
edged up: Increased by a small amount.
Arts edged up from 3 to 4 in the final year.

Task Prompt

Task 1: The chart below shows the donation given to six different types of charity by one company from 2012 to 2014.

User Essay Analysis

Review the public answer with report-style highlights.

Band 5.0

The bar chart illustrates the amount of money of a firm donated to different kinds of charity namely social welfare, Education, Environment, health, Wildlife and Arts from 2012 to 2014. Overall,Social Welfare received consistently the largest donation , whilst Wildlife and Arts attracted the least funding much lower. There was a slight fluctuation in all six types between 2012 and 2014. The amount for social welfare was about 22 in 2012, then fell to 16 in 2013 before rising to 24 in 2014. It remained the highest-funded charity in each year, although the figure changed considerably.

Education and Environment both received 8 in 2012. Education fell to 6 in 2013 and returned to 8 in 2014, while Environment declined to 5 and then increased to 7. Health showed a steady rise, from 6 in 2012 to 7 in 2013 and 9 in 2014.

The lowest figures were for Wildlife and Arts. Wildlife donations increased from 3 to 4 and then 5 over the three years. Arts stayed at 3 in 2012 and 2013, before reaching 4 in 2014. By the final year, donations had risen in every category compared with 2013, while social welfare was far ahead of all the other charities.

Targeted Improvement Tips

Write an overview that reflects the largest contrast: social welfare was highest throughout, while Wildlife and Arts had the smallest figures; avoid describing every category’s changes as slight.

Check each figure against the chart before writing, then group categories with similar trends—for example, Education and Environment both started at 8, while Health rose steadily.

Leave time to proofread the opening for natural noun phrases, spaces after commas, and spaces before punctuation.

AI Feedback

Overall Band

5.0

Modest

Words

202

Type

Bar Chart

Criteria Breakdown

Task Achievement

5.5 Band

The answer covers all six charities and gives useful comparisons, including the exact sequence for social welfare: “fell to 16 in 2013 before rising to 24 in 2014.” It also identifies the low figures for Wildlife and Arts. However, “a slight fluctuation in all six types” understates the pronounced movement in social welfare, and the overview could describe the broad upward trend more accurately. Lead with the main contrast, then support it with the figures.

Coherence & Cohesion

5.5 Band

The response moves from an overview to details and groups some lower figures together. The transition “Education and Environment both received 8 in 2012” makes their comparison easy to follow. However, the overview and the later details do not fully align, and the opening has awkward punctuation that interrupts the flow. Organise the overview around the dominant category and overall direction, then group the remaining categories by similar trends.

Lexical Resource

5.0 Band

There is some useful range in phrases such as “fell to,” “returned to,” and “showed a steady rise,” which communicate changes clearly. The wording “the least funding much lower” is not idiomatic, and “donation” and “figures” are repeated frequently. Use concise comparison language such as “received considerably less” and vary accurate trend verbs, while keeping charity names consistently capitalised or lower-case.

Grammatical Range & Accuracy

4.5 Band

Several later sentences use clear past-tense structures, for example, “Arts stayed at 3 in 2012 and 2013, before reaching 4 in 2014.” But “the amount of money of a firm donated” has an incorrect noun phrase, while “Overall,Social Welfare” has a missing space and the opening also has an unnecessary space before a comma. Review sentence openings and punctuation, and check that each noun phrase reads naturally before adding detail.

Topic Band Distribution

Band 9.03 examples

Band 8.03 examples

Band 7.03 examples

Band 6.03 examples

Band 5.03 examples

Band 4.03 examples

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