Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-10-01
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 5.5)
The bar graphs and line graph illustrate the opinion of the people living in london about the city by comparing the best and worst features through a survey conducted over a three-year period.
Overall, the bar graphs represent the likings and dislikings about the city of the native people by comparing various categories, while the line graph visualize the percentage of people addressing the major problems in London.However, People love the city for its range of shops. Conversely, they also think it as worst because of the high living cost.
London attracts people with the high rate of job opportunities and mixture of people agreed by approximately 33-35% people. Over the three years, museums and art galleries and the night life have also increased gradually and become the attraction for the people to live there. Transport is another reason to make the city better to everyone.
On the contrary, more than 50% people think that London is not a top choice to live in for its cost of living in the first year which has reduced a bit in the next two years. Almost 55% of the residents feel that traffic congestion and crime rate are major two reasons to make the city worst. Though people expressed their feeling about crime rate for the next 2 years declined to roughly about 38-40%. Moreover, cost of housing and transport remain another major reasons.
However, people feel that litter is the major problem in London which fluctuated in three years where as air quality and noise follow a gradual decrease.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response addresses all parts of the prompt by describing the mixed charts, presenting an overview, and selecting key data points such as the range of shops, cost of living, and litter. However, the development is uneven and mechanical. Some parts present data with general approximations without fully integrating the figures into a clear comparative narrative. While the main trends are covered, the description tends to list features rather than synthesise them effectively, placing it firmly at this level where information and data are used somewhat mechanically.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The report demonstrates some organisation with an introduction, body paragraphs addressing the different charts, and a concluding point, but overall progression lacks clear logical flow. Cohesive devices are sometimes used awkwardly or inaccurately, such as the sudden transition using 'However' and 'Conversely' in the second paragraph. Paragraphing is attempted, but internal cohesion within paragraphs can be repetitive, with several sentences starting in a similar fashion, which affects the overall readability and structural progression.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for the task, with attempts at less common items such as 'traffic congestion', 'mixture of people', and 'fluctuated'. However, there are noticeable lexical inaccuracies and awkward word choices, such as 'likings and dislikings', 'worst' instead of 'worse' or 'a negative aspect', and 'high living cost' instead of 'cost of living'. These errors do not completely impede communication, but they restrict the precision and natural flow expected at higher bands.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The response features a limited range of sentence structures, and attempts at complex sentences frequently contain errors. There are issues with prepositions, articles, and pluralisation, such as 'opinion of the people living in london' (capitalisation and phrasing), 'addressing the major problems', and 'more than 50% people think' (missing 'of'). Frequent grammatical slips and punctuation errors occur throughout the text, occasionally causing difficulty for the reader and limiting the structural variety.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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