Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

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

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 provided bar graph illustrates the perceived danger and actual likelihood of being a victim of crime from 2009 to 2011.

overall, it is evident that car crime showed an upward trend by perceived while violent crime and burglary crime recorded a downward trend despite some fluctuations throughout the period.

At the beginning, perceived 2009/10 stood at 15% in burglary crime whereas actual declined started at 2%, but perceived 2010/11 was higher than two trends.

on the other hand, car crime had the highest victim in perceived 2009/10 which was higher than burglary to around 20%, actual increased approximately 4%. Moreover, perceived 2010/11 rose to around 16% in car crime.

At last, in viloent crime, perceived 2010/11 fell slightly from 20% to 15% also actual and 2009/10 decreased roughly 17%. along with actual 2010/11 fell and reached at 3% that was lower than car crime but higher than burglary.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 150 words, which negatively impacts the score. While you have identified the main trends, the analysis is often confusing and lacks clarity. For instance, the description of the data for 2009/10 and 2010/11 is difficult to follow, and the comparisons between 'perceived' and 'actual' figures are not clearly articulated. You have attempted to cover all crime types, but the lack of precision in reporting the data points makes it difficult for the reader to grasp the key features of the graph. To improve, ensure you clearly distinguish between the categories and provide accurate, comparative data points.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into paragraphs, but the logical progression is weak. The use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or misused, such as 'At the beginning' and 'At last', which do not fit the context of reporting data. Referencing is frequently unclear; for example, phrases like 'higher than two trends' are ambiguous and do not effectively link ideas. The flow between sentences is disjointed, making it hard to follow the comparison of the different crime types. Improving the use of transition signals and ensuring that each paragraph has a clear focus would significantly enhance the coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is limited and repetitive, often relying on basic terms like 'showed', 'recorded', and 'increased'. There are several instances of awkward phrasing and incorrect word choice, such as 'upward trend by perceived' and 'had the highest victim in perceived'. Additionally, there are spelling errors like 'viloent'. To reach a higher band, you should aim to use a wider range of vocabulary to describe trends, such as 'fluctuated', 'remained stable', or 'experienced a marginal decline', and ensure that your collocations are natural and accurate for an academic report.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Issues include incorrect preposition usage ('at 2%', 'in burglary crime'), subject-verb agreement errors, and awkward sentence construction, such as 'actual declined started at 2%'. Punctuation is also inconsistent, with missing capital letters at the start of sentences. While the meaning is generally discernible, the high frequency of errors in basic grammar and sentence structure limits the score. Focusing on sentence construction and proofreading for basic errors will help improve your accuracy.

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

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