Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-16

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 charts and the line graph illustrate the result of a survey conducted over a span of 3 years to get reviews of the residents of London about their city.

Overall, the reviews of the people about different things fluctuated a lot. Most of the people thought that the wide range of shops and job opportunites in London were the best things while some people thought that transport and night life were the best things in London.Many people thought that the cost of living,traffic congestion, and the crime are the worst things in London.Most of the people thought that the litter is the major problem in the city especially in the second year.

In the first year, more than 40% of the people thought that the variety of shops in London is the best thing.In the second year this proportion reduced a little before edging up in the third year. In the first year, less than 40% of the people though that job opportunities and mixture of people is the best thing which declined in the second and the third year for job opportunities and mixture of people respectively. 25% the people thought that the night life and transport are the best things in the first year which changed to 28% and 24% re

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student attempts to describe the data from the mixed charts and line graph, identifying several main features such as the best and worst aspects of living in London, as well as the problems regarding litter. However, the response is incomplete and cuts off mid-sentence ("which changed to 28% and 24% re"). While an overview is attempted, details across the three charts are somewhat mixed up and generalised without sufficient precision. Key figures are occasionally misread or vaguely approximated. For instance, stating that "25% the people thought that the night life and transport are the best things" lacks precision, and the abrupt ending prevents full development of the final chart data. This performance corresponds to a Band 5.5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response shows an attempt at logical organisation by dividing the text into an introduction, an overview paragraph, and a body paragraph. However, the progression is disrupted by the incomplete ending and sudden shifts between different survey questions within the same paragraph. Paragraphing is rudimentary, and cohesive devices are somewhat repetitive or mechanical (e.g., repeating "In the first year... In the second year..."). Reference words are occasionally unclear. Overall, the arrangement provides a basic structure, but it lacks the smooth flow and clear logical progression expected at Band 6.0, fitting more comfortably at Band 5.5.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, successfully using terms like "survey," "residents," "proportion," and "fluctuated." However, there are noticeable lexical errors and awkward collocations, such as "get reviews of the residents" instead of "gather the opinions of residents," and spelling/word formation issues like "opportunites." Less common vocabulary is attempted with limited success. While the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the general meaning, the persistent inaccuracies and lack of sophisticated phrasing place this criterion at a Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as "Most of the people thought that the wide range of shops and job opportunites in London were the best things..." However, grammatical errors are frequent throughout the text. There are issues with article usage ("the cost of living, traffic congestion, and the crime"), prepositional errors, and missing words. Furthermore, the sentence structure becomes repetitive in the final paragraph with consecutive clauses starting with "In the first year... In the second year...". Because errors are noticeable and the response ends mid-sentence, a Band 5.5 is appropriate.

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