Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-08-13

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?

What are the best things about living in London?

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The given bar charts and line graph illustrates the information of a survey that is conducted for 3 year of spam to acknowledge that what citizen think about their area of London.

Overall, it is striking that the charts shows the decreasing trend, range of shops and traffic congestion have the highest proportion as best and worst things, in contrast transport facilities have the lowest percentage in both in the three years of period.

Moving into more details, the variety of shops stood at around 40-45%, which is good thing as said by citizens, whereas the proportion of job opportunities and mixture of people declined slightly and at fluctuations with 33-35%. Transport has the proportion in both best and worst things, which is 20% and 25% respectively. Traffic Congestion has the most proportion of worst thing which was 65% and then declined by 5%in last year.

Moving further, in year 1 the letter was at 70% then inclined by 5% and then expereince decrement and fell at 68%. The air quality showed little fluctuations and seemed as constant at around 67%. The noise stood at 60% and remained constant in 3 years.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers the main features of the charts, but the analysis is somewhat inconsistent. While you identify key trends, the description of the data is occasionally confusing, particularly when referring to 'the letter' or 'the last year' without clear context. The overview is present but lacks precision in summarizing the most significant differences between the 'best' and 'worst' aspects. To improve, ensure that you clearly distinguish between the different categories and provide more accurate comparisons. The data points mentioned, such as '40-45%' or '65%', are helpful, but the overall synthesis of the information needs to be more structured to ensure the reader can easily follow the comparison between the three years.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into paragraphs, which helps the flow of information. However, the use of cohesive devices is sometimes mechanical or inaccurate. For example, phrases like 'Moving into more details' and 'Moving further' are used to transition, but the logical progression between sentences is occasionally hindered by unclear referencing (e.g., 'the letter was at 70%'). The paragraphing is logical, but the internal cohesion within the paragraphs could be strengthened by using a wider variety of linking words that connect ideas more fluidly rather than just listing data points. The overall structure is coherent, but the execution of transitions needs more refinement to reach a higher band.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, such as 'proportion', 'fluctuations', and 'congestion'. However, there are several instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors, such as '3 year of spam' (likely meant 'span') and 'most proportion of worst thing'. These errors occasionally impede the clarity of your report. To improve, focus on using more precise terminology for describing trends and data, such as 'a significant decline' or 'remained stable'. Expanding your vocabulary to include more sophisticated synonyms for 'good' or 'bad' will also help elevate your score, as the current range is somewhat limited and repetitive.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that affect readability. Issues include subject-verb agreement ('the charts shows'), incorrect verb tenses, and awkward phrasing ('which is good thing as said by citizens'). Punctuation is generally acceptable, but the sentence construction often feels forced or grammatically incomplete. To reach a higher band, you need to focus on producing more error-free sentences and ensuring that complex structures are used accurately. Pay closer attention to articles and pluralization, as these small errors occur frequently throughout the text and distract from your analysis.

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

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