Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-08-07

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The bar charts and line graph below show the results of a survey conducted over a three-year period to discover what people who live in London think of the city.

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

What are the best things about living in London?

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The bar chart and line graph illustrate the results of a survey conducted over a three-year period to discover what people who live in London think of the city.

Overall, people believed in year 1 that range of shops were best thing, while cost of living, traffic congestion and crime are the worst things about living in London. While cost of living was considered still the highest worst till year three.

For the best things, the range of shop had the highest proportion with 45% in year 1, dripping slightly to 42% in year 2 and finally rose marginally to 43% in year 3. Job opportunities were at 38% in year 1 then dropped to 35% in next years. The people from different background were at 36% in year 1 and 2 and went down slightly to 33% in year 3. Museums and galleries showed significant increase from 30% in year 1 to 36% in year 3. Night life also showed increase while transport fluctuated.

Looking at the worst things, cost of living was at the highest with 59% and second highest were traffic congestion and crime with 58% respectively. Cost of living reduced and then slight increased to 50% by year 3. Traffic congestion dropped to 49% in year 3. The drastic change was in crime which dropped sharply to 38% and then 39% in year 3. Cost of housing marginally increased and transport dropped by year 3

The proportion of people said yes to litter dropped from 70% to 65%, bad air quality 65% to 63% and noise 59% to 57% from year 1 to 3.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

You have successfully identified the key features of the charts and provided a clear overview. You covered both the 'best' and 'worst' aspects of living in London, as well as the trends over the three-year period. However, the report lacks precision in some areas; for example, you mention 'transport fluctuated' without providing specific data points to support this. Additionally, the final paragraph introduces data about 'litter', 'air quality', and 'noise' which were not clearly linked to the provided charts, making the report slightly confusing. To improve, ensure all data points are clearly referenced and avoid introducing external information not present in the prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is organised into logical paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. You use some cohesive devices, such as 'Overall', 'For the best things', and 'Looking at the worst things', to transition between ideas. However, the flow within paragraphs is sometimes mechanical. For instance, the transition between sentences in the third paragraph is repetitive, relying heavily on 'was at' and 'dropped to'. Using a wider variety of linking words and improving the referencing (e.g., using 'the former' or 'the latter') would help the text flow more naturally and improve the overall coherence.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You have a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey the main points, such as 'proportion', 'fluctuated', and 'marginally'. However, there are several instances of awkward phrasing and word choice, such as 'dripping slightly' (likely meant 'dipping') and 'the range of shop' (should be plural). Some collocations are also imprecise, such as 'people believed in year 1 that range of shops were best thing'. To reach a higher band, focus on using more precise academic vocabulary and ensuring correct pluralisation and article usage when describing statistical data.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, which is a positive step. However, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, particularly with articles ('the range of shop', 'the cost of living') and verb tenses ('cost of living reduced and then slight increased'). Some sentences are also missing necessary prepositions or articles, which occasionally makes the meaning slightly unclear. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and consistent tense usage would significantly improve your accuracy.

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

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