Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-08-09

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The graph below shows the perceived danger and actual likelihood of being a victim of crime.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Perceived and actual likelihood of being a victim of crime: by crime type

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The graph illustrates people's perception of the risk of becoming a victim of crime and the actual likelihood of this happening.

Overall, among three kinds of happenings car crime is the most prominent with the highest proportion. While the remaining two crimes were almost close to each other but the rate of actual crimes are too much low.

Looking more into the graph, perceptions of burglary was 15% in 2009 and 2010 while in 2010 and 2011 it was just under 15%. However, percentage of actual crime was almost 3% in both the years from 2009 and 2011. Car crime was the most perceived with rate of 21% and 17% by the years 2009 to 2011. But the actual crimes were just below 5% according to both years.

Violent crimes were almost equal to burglary the perception rate was 15% and 13% while actual crimes were almost 3% throughout the period.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers the main features of the graph, identifying the three crime types and comparing perceived versus actual likelihood. However, the analysis is somewhat superficial. The data points are presented in a list-like fashion without sufficient synthesis or clear comparison between the categories. For instance, the statement 'the rate of actual crimes are too much low' is imprecise and lacks the analytical depth required for a higher band. While all parts of the task are addressed, the lack of a clear, analytical overview and the reliance on listing figures rather than highlighting significant trends limits the score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear attempt to use cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'Looking more into the graph', and 'However'. However, the flow between sentences is sometimes mechanical. The referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the phrase 'the remaining two crimes were almost close to each other', which lacks precision. Paragraphing is present, but the transition between the overview and the body paragraphs could be smoother. The use of cohesive devices is adequate but not always flexible or sophisticated.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, but it lacks the precision and range required for higher bands. Phrases like 'kinds of happenings' and 'too much low' are unnatural and imprecise. There is some repetition of basic terms like 'crimes' and 'rates'. While the student successfully uses terms like 'proportion', 'perceived', and 'likelihood', the overall lexical range is limited. To improve, the student should focus on using more varied collocations and avoiding informal or awkward phrasing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('the rate of actual crimes are') and awkward phrasing ('the most perceived with rate of 21%'). Punctuation is generally functional, but the sentence structure is often repetitive. While the errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent the response from reaching a higher band. More attention to verb forms and sentence construction is needed.

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.