Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-10-02

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The graphs below show the number of drivers in Britain who have been caught driving too fast by speed cameras placed on roads, and the number of people killed in road accidents, over an eight-year period since the introduction of speed cameras. The tables show the results of a survey on people's opinions on speed cameras.

Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information below.

SPEED CAMERA FINES and ROAD ACCIDENT FATALITIES

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The graph shows the percentage of overweight people in nine selected OECD countries in the past and at present, and gives predictions for the future.

Overall, the percentage of overweight people is expected to increase in most of the countries. Some countries have already experienced a significant rise, while others have a lower rate. In general, the trend shows that being overweight is likely to become a more common problem in the future.

Looking at the past figures, the rates of overweight people were relatively low in most countries. However, the percentages increased gradually over time. Some countries experienced a particularly noticeable increase, while countries such as Japan had comparatively lower levels. The figures for the countries were different, but the general trend was upward.

At present, most of the selected countries have higher overweight rates than they did in the past. The projections also show further increases in the coming years. Some countries are expected to reach very high levels, with a large proportion of their populations being overweight. In contrast, a few countries are predicted to have much lower rates, although their figures are also likely to rise.

In conclusion, the graph indicates that overweight rates have generally increased over time and are expected to continue rising in the future across most of the selected OECD countries.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.0

This response represents a major issue with task relevance and misinterpretation. The student has written about overweight people in OECD countries, which completely ignores the actual prompt about speed camera fines, road accident fatalities, and public survey opinions. Because the response is entirely off-topic and fails to address any part of the visual data provided in the task instructions, it sits at the lowest appropriate level for task fulfillment. To improve, a candidate must carefully read the prompt, identify the correct visual data, and report the specific figures, trends, and survey results shown in the charts rather than writing about a memorized or irrelevant topic.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

Despite being completely off-topic, the text itself exhibits a clear overall arrangement with basic paragraphing. The writer uses standard introductory and concluding paragraphs, and employs basic cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'However', 'In contrast', and 'In conclusion' to signal shifts in the text. However, because the underlying content is entirely disconnected from the source material, the progression feels disconnected from any visual data. To achieve a higher band, referencing and logical progression must accurately reflect the relationships and comparisons present in the actual charts and tables rather than generic descriptive templates.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used throughout the essay is adequate for general description, featuring appropriate phrases like 'significant rise', 'gradually over time', and 'comparatively lower levels'. There are attempts to use vocabulary related to trends and statistics, such as 'projections' and 'proportion'. However, the lexical choices are entirely memorized and generic, failing to engage with the specific subject matter of traffic data and public opinion surveys. To improve, the student should use specific vocabulary pertinent to the prompt's actual domain, replacing generic terms with precise language tailored to data analysis.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 7.0

The grammatical performance is a strong point of this submission. The writer demonstrates a good variety of sentence structures, including complex forms such as 'The graph shows the percentage of overweight people...', 'Some countries have already experienced a significant rise, while others have a higher rate', and clauses introduced by 'although'. There is a high proportion of error-free sentences, and control over verb tenses (past, present, and future predictions) is handled well. To maintain this level while improving overall performance, the grammatical control demonstrated here simply needs to be applied to accurate descriptions of the correct visual data.

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

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