Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-10-08

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 7.0)

The three charts compare the opinions of London's residents among a three-year period. The first bar chart illustrates the main reasons why inhabitants enjoy the city, while the other two graphs highlight the disadvantages.

By and large, the rank of the best things about living in London remained quite stable over the period. Similarly, the rank of the worst things and the major problems did not change during the whole period, except for the crime category, which experienced a significant reduction in importance perceived.

Looking at the best things about living in London, in year one almost 45% of the respondents loved the range of shops available, this category slightly decreased at almost 40% in year 3. In a similar way, job opportunities and mixture of people declined a little

at 35% and 34% respectively. The category that gained the most importance was museums and art galleries, which reached the figure of 34% in year 3.

Turning to the negatives, cost of living remains a big problem among the whole period, pointed out by 50% of interviewed people in year 3. Traffic congestion has a slightly less importance than the cost of living whereas in year 3 it continued to be the second worst thing with almost the same figure as the former. The number of residents believing crime is one of the worst things about living in London experienced the most significant drop from almost 60% in year one to around 40% in year 3.

Talking about the major problems, they showed the same ranking during the period: air quality and noise decreased constantly, while litter experienced a rise in year 2 and a drop in year 3.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You cover the three charts and identify several important patterns, including the stable ranking of positive features, the rise in the share selecting museums and galleries, and the fall in crime as a perceived disadvantage. The figures you give for shops, job opportunities, mixture of people and crime are broadly consistent with the chart. However, the overview is not fully precise: the ranking of the worst things does change, since cost of living leads in Year 1, while crime is slightly higher than cost of living in Year 2 and traffic congestion leads in Year 3. Also, the major-problem ranking is not described accurately: litter is highest throughout, followed by air quality and then noise. More complete comparisons across all three years would make the report more fully developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The report is organised clearly, moving from an introduction and overview to the positive features, disadvantages and major problems. Paragraphing helps the reader follow the chart groups, and signposts such as “Looking at” and “Turning to” make the progression easy to track. You also use comparison and contrast to connect information, for example when describing the decline in crime. Some links are less effective because the overview makes broad claims that the later details do not support, particularly that the rankings remained unchanged. The final paragraph is also brief and gives no figures, so its relationship to the more detailed preceding sections feels less balanced. Make the overview more exact, then use a few explicit comparisons to connect the key data within each section.

Lexical Resource: Band 7.0

You use a suitable range of vocabulary for describing survey results, including “remained quite stable,” “declined,” “reached the figure,” and “experienced the most significant drop.” These choices help you report trends without relying only on basic verbs. There are occasional awkward or imprecise collocations, however: “the rank of the best things” is less natural than “the ranking of the most popular features,” and “cost of living remains a big problem among the whole period” is not idiomatic. “The category that gained the most importance” also suggests a change in importance rather than a rise in the percentage selecting it. Aim for precise chart-reporting language such as “the proportion citing” or “the share identifying,” and check that collocations sound natural in context.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentences, including clauses with “while,” “which,” and “whereas,” and most of the meaning remains clear. Some grammatical errors persist, which limits the accuracy of the report. For example, “among a three-year period” should use “over,” and “cost of living remains” shifts into the present tense while the report describes past survey years. In “this category slightly decreased at almost 40%,” the construction does not clearly express the change in the percentage, and “whereas in year 3 it continued” is an awkwardly formed comparison. Review tense consistency and sentence patterns for describing figures: for instance, say that the proportion “fell to around 42%” rather than that the category decreased at a percentage.

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