Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-01

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 6.5)

The charts illustrate the views of people living in london regrading the best and worst aspects of life in the city over a three-year period. The final line graph also shows the percentage of people who considered these issues to be major problems.

overall, the variety of shops was consistently regarded as the best feature of living in london, while the cost of living was the most significant disadvantages. In general, most of the positive aspects remained relatively stable, whereas some negative issues, particularly traffic and pollution, changed considerably.

looking first at the positive aspects, the variety of shops was the most popular feature, being mentioned by approximately 45% of respondents in the first year and just over 40% in the following two years. job opportunities and the mixture of people were also highly appreciated, with figures of around 35-38%. Interestingly, the proportion of people who valued restaurants and art galleries increased steadily, from about 28% to 34%. Nightlife was mentioned by roughly 21-24% of respondents, while transport remained close to 20%. Museums were also relatively unpopular, although their figure rose again in the final year.

Regarding the worst things about london, the cost of living was the leading concern,at approximately 57% initally before falling to around 50% in the final year.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response covers the main features of the charts well, providing a clear overview and selecting relevant data points to support the description. You successfully identified the most popular positive aspects and the leading negative concern. However, the report is incomplete as it fails to describe the data for the 'worst things' beyond the cost of living. The prompt includes information about traffic, pollution, and other negative factors, but these are omitted from the final paragraph. To reach a higher band, ensure all parts of the visual data are represented, particularly when multiple categories are provided in the source material.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The response is logically organized with a clear introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs. The use of cohesive devices such as 'looking first at,' 'interestingly,' and 'regarding' helps guide the reader through the information. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate positive and negative aspects. However, the transition between the overview and the body paragraphs is slightly abrupt, and some cohesive links are a bit mechanical. The progression of ideas is generally clear, but the sudden ending of the report suggests a lack of finality in the structure, which impacts the overall flow.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

You demonstrate a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey the information clearly. Phrases like 'consistently regarded,' 'significant disadvantages,' and 'increased steadily' are used effectively. There are some minor errors in capitalization, such as 'london' and 'initally,' which should be corrected. While the vocabulary is adequate for the task, it lacks the sophistication or 'less common' lexical items that would push the score into the higher bands. Focusing on more precise collocations and ensuring consistent attention to detail in spelling and capitalization will improve this score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

The response uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as 'The charts illustrate...' and 'Interestingly, the proportion of people who valued...'. Grammar is generally well-controlled, and errors do not impede communication. However, there are several punctuation and capitalization errors, such as the missing space after the comma in 'concern,at' and the failure to capitalize 'London'. These are minor but frequent enough to prevent a higher score. To improve, ensure that you proofread for basic mechanical errors and attempt a wider variety of complex grammatical structures to demonstrate greater control.

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

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