Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-09-21

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 chart compares the percentage of people's fear of becoming a victim of various crimes with the actual statistical probability of those crimes occurring over two different periods, 2009/10 and 2010/11.

Overall, it is clear that public perception of danger was significantly higher than the actual reality of experiencing while the perceived risk remained relatively stable, the actual figures showed a slight fluctuation.

In terms of perceived threat, a massive majority of respondents believed they were at risk of crime. For instance, in 2009/10, the perceived likelihood stood at 21% slightly dipping to around 19% in 2010/11. in reality the actual percentage of people who fell victim to car crime was less then half of that perception, hovering around 9% in the first year and decreasing marginally to 8% in the second year.

A similar tread of overestimating danger was visible in burglary and violent crime. In 2009/10, the perceived threat of violent crime stood at about 17%, dropping to 15% the following year. However, the actual victimization rate remained constant at a mere 3% Burglary followed a downward trend in perception, falling from roughly 14% to 12% over the period, while actual break ins remained flat at just under 4 % across both years.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The candidate attempts to cover the main features of the chart, providing an overall summary and comparing perceived danger with actual likelihood for the crime types. However, there are significant data inaccuracies throughout the response. For example, the student states that car crime in the first year stood at 21% and the actual percentage was around 9%, whereas the actual data shows 21% for perceived car crime and 4.5% for actual crime. Similarly, the figures cited for burglary and violent crime do not align closely with the provided visual data. Consequently, while all parts of the prompt are addressed, the misreading of data limits the task response to a Band 5.5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response is organized into logical paragraphs, beginning with an introduction, followed by an overview paragraph, and then body paragraphs examining the categories. Cohesive devices are used to guide the reader, such as 'Overall', 'In terms of perceived threat', and 'However'. Paragraphing is handled appropriately, and there is a clear overarching progression from general comparisons to specific details. However, mechanical transitions and slight issues with referencing prevent it from reaching a higher band. Coherence and cohesion comfortably meet the requirements for Band 6.5.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task, with attempts at less common lexical items such as 'statistical probability', 'victimization rate', and 'fluctuation'. However, there are notable word choice and phrasing inaccuracies, such as 'percentage of people's fear' and 'a similar tread' (trend), alongside punctuation and capitalization errors in the middle of sentences ('in reality the actual...'). While the range is sufficient to convey basic meaning, these lexical slips place the response firmly in the Band 6.0 category.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including relative clauses and introductory prepositional phrases (e.g., 'In 2009/10, the perceived threat...'). However, grammatical control is inconsistent. There are run-on structures, missing punctuation, and minor errors such as 'less then' instead of 'less than', and missing commas separating clauses. Although these errors do not severely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the writing from achieving a Band 7.0, making Band 6.0 a fitting score.

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

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