Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-09-16

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 bar graphs down there illustrates the preceived danger and actual likelihood of being a victim of crime in the years 2009/2010 and 2010/2011.

Overall, the public's fear of crime was significantly higher than the real occurance in both years. Car crime was preceived to be the most likely threat, while the actual rate was very low for all three crimes.

In terms of perceptions, around 15% of people in 2009/10 belived they would be a victim of burglary, and a slihtly higher proportion, about 12-13%, felt at risk of violent crime. The greatest fear was car crime, with almost 20% perceviving a risk in 2009/10. By 2010/11, preceived risk for all three categories has fallen to approximately 15% for car crime, 125 for burglary and 11% for violent crime.

In contrast, the actual likelihood was much lower. The real rate of burglary was just under 5% in both years, while violent crime and care crime were even lower, at around 3-45. notably, the actual rate of car crime decreased slightly from 2009/10 to 2010,11.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student attempts to cover all parts of the task by summarising the main features of the chart regarding perceived and actual crime rates. An overview is present, noting the general discrepancy between fear and reality. However, there are numerous data inaccuracies throughout the text. For example, the student states that the actual rate of burglary was 'just under 5%', whereas the chart shows it at approximately 2% to 2.5%. Additionally, typographical and numerical errors occur in the data reporting, such as '125 for burglary' (likely meaning 12.5% or 13%) and '3-45' (likely 3% to 4.5%). While key trends are highlighted, the unreliability of the specific figures prevents the response from achieving a higher band. It satisfies the core requirements of Task 1 but lacks precision in reporting data.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response is organized into clear paragraphs, including an introduction, an overview, and separate body paragraphs for perceptions and actual likelihoods. Cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'In terms of perceptions', and 'In contrast' are used to guide the reader through the information. However, referencing and logical progression are occasionally hindered by typographical errors and awkward phrasing, such as 'The bar graphs down there'. Paragraphing is used sufficiently, but the overall cohesion feels somewhat mechanical rather than entirely smooth. Nevertheless, the progression of ideas is generally clear and easy to follow.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student attempts a range of vocabulary suitable for describing statistical data, using terms such as 'proportion', 'category', 'decrease', and 'risk'. However, there are numerous spelling and word-choice errors that detract from the quality of the response. Examples include 'preceived' (perceived), 'occurance' (occurrence), 'belived' (believed), 'slihtly' (slightly), and 'perceviving' (perceiving). Furthermore, typographical errors like '125' and '3-45' indicate a lack of careful proofreading. While the vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey the general meaning, the persistent spelling errors place it within the Band 5 range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating clauses of comparison and time reference (e.g., 'while the actual rate was very low', 'By 2010/11, perceived risk... has fallen'). However, there are several grammatical errors and tense inconsistencies, such as 'The bar graphs down there illustrates' (subject-verb agreement error) and 'has fallen' (inappropriate tense consistency when referring to past years 2010/11). Punctuation and numbering errors also appear in data ranges, such as '2010,11'. The range of structures is adequate for the task, but frequent minor errors limit the score to a Band 5.5 or 6.0, settling at 5.5 due to the accumulation of grammatical slips.

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

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