Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-18

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 charts illustrate the conclusions of a questionnaire conducted over a three year time period to discover what do the residents of London think about the city.

overall, A vast majority of people consider the range of shops as the best thing about living in london, this is followed by the cost of living as the worst thing and a large percentage of people regard litter as the major problem in London.

Firstly, about 45% people regard the range of shops as the best thing in London which is closely followed by the job opportunities, mixture of people and availablity of museums and art galleries. There haas been an upward trend in people recommending night life from about 25 % in year 1 to around 30% in year 3. Transport is the least regarded one as the best facility in London.

Regarding the worst thing, A high percentage of residents regards the cost of living as the worst thing, followed by traffic congestion, crime and cost of housing. just below 40% people referrred to transport as the worst facility but this declined to around 30% in the year 3. Furthermore, a high proportion of individuals regard litter as one of the major problems in London in all 3 years. followed by air quality and noise.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student covers all three charts presented in the prompt, successfully identifying key features and making appropriate comparisons across the three-year period. An overview is attempted in the second paragraph, capturing prominent trends such as the 'range of shops' being considered the best feature and 'cost of living' the worst. However, there are some minor inaccuracies and generalisations in data interpretation; for instance, the text claims night life rose from about 25% to 30%, whereas the chart indicates a starting point of around 22% rising to nearly 25%. Furthermore, the third chart concerning major problems is integrated somewhat abruptly. Overall, the task is addressed adequately, fulfilling the main requirements for an Academic Task 1 response.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The report exhibits a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing, dividing the introduction, overview, and specific body paragraphs logically by chart categories. Cohesive devices are employed to guide the reader through the data, such as 'Firstly' and 'Regarding the worst thing'. However, referencing and transitions are at times mechanical or faulty, as seen in the sentence starting abruptly with 'overall, A vast majority...' and the hanging fragment 'followed by air quality and noise.' Paragraphing could be further refined to ensure smoother transitions between the distinct data sets provided in the visual prompt.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common phrases such as 'vast majority,' 'upward trend,' and 'high proportion.' However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors, including 'availablity' (availability), 'Haas' (has), 'referrred' (referred), and lower-case capitalization issues with proper nouns like 'london.' While these lexical errors do not impede communication, they reflect a Band 6 level where control over spelling and word formation is somewhat inconsistent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at subordinate clauses and comparative structures. There are, however, frequent punctuation and capitalization errors, such as starting sentences with lower-case letters ('overall, A vast majority...'). Grammatical errors also appear, including tense inconsistencies like 'what do the residents... think' instead of 'what the residents... thought' or 'think.' Although these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the main points, they highlight a lack of consistent accuracy across complex structures.

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