Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-09-18

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 the proportion of perceived danger versus the actual likelihood of being a crime victim in various types of crime from 2009 to 2011.

Overall, the percentages of perceived threats is considerably higher compared to the actual crime rates across all variations of crime over the three-year period.

In the year 2009 to 2011, car crime witnessed the highest anticipated threat that ranges from around 16% to over 20%, while the actual crime rates were equal with the figure of approximately 4%.

In contrast, burgalry and violent crimes showed a relatively similar pattern, which has a perceived danger of 15% and roughly 13% equally. Whereas actual recorded crimes ranges from about 3% to 4% during the same years.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The student attempts to summarize the main features of the chart, noting the overall disparity between perceived and actual crime rates. However, the response suffers from a significant under-length penalty, containing only 120 words against the required 150-word minimum. Furthermore, there are some inaccurate data citations: the student states that car crime ranged from 'around 16% to over 20%', whereas the actual figures on the chart are 21% for 2009/10 and 17% for 2010/11 (a downward trend, rather than a range). The response also misidentifies the time frame as '2009 to 2011' instead of distinguishing the two survey periods, and contains a typo in 'burgalry'. Consequently, the task is only partially addressed.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The text is structured into four distinct paragraphs, including an introduction, an overall statement, and two body paragraphs covering specific crime types. There is an attempt to use cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'In the year', and 'In contrast'. However, referencing and transitions are somewhat mechanical, and the logical progression is weakened by imprecise grouping of data. Paragraphing is present, but due to the short length, the overall flow feels abrupt and under-developed.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary for the task, successfully employing terms such as 'proportion', 'perceived danger', 'actual likelihood', and 'threat'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors, including the spelling mistake 'burgalry' and awkward phrasing such as 'across all variations of crime'. The range of vocabulary is somewhat limited and repetitive, which prevents the score from reaching a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as relative clauses ('that ranges from around 16% to over 20%'). There are several grammatical inaccuracies, including subject-verb agreement errors ('percentages of perceived threats is considerably higher') and tense/preposition confusion ('In the year 2009 to 2011, car crime witnessed the highest anticipated threat that ranges...'). Despite these errors, meaning is generally not obscured, but control over complex structures remains inconsistent.

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

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