Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

The bar charts and line graph illustrates the results of a study of what individuals living in London think about the city over the period of three years.

Overall, most people considered the wide range of shops to be one of the best things about living in London over a three-year period, while the highest number of people considered crime to be the worst thing about living in this city, particularly in first-year period. However, litter accounted for the largest proportion of problem among the other two problems.

According to the bar charts, the best thing about living in London was a wide range of shops in a three-year period, at 45%, 42% and 43% respectively, while mixture of people represented the second best thing about living in London, at 36% and job opportunities represented the stable proportion of almost 35% in 2nd and 3rd year.Cost of living, traffic congestion and crime were considered the worst things and represented the proportion of approximately 58%,57% respectively,particularly in 1st and 2nd year.

Almost 60% of people regarded noise as the major problem in 1 year, which declined further until the 3rd year, while 70% individuals were seen litter to be the major problem that went up further in next year and then declined sharply in the 3rd year, at almost 69%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify several relevant features, including shops as a leading positive, crime as a major negative in the first year, and litter as a prominent problem. However, coverage is incomplete and some comparisons are inaccurate or unclear. Crime was not the highest-rated worst feature in Year 1: cost of living, crime and traffic congestion were all close to 56–57%, and traffic congestion remained high in later years. The statement that shops led “over a three-year period” is broadly supported, but the second-place ranking is not consistent: job opportunities slightly exceeded mixture of people in Year 1. You also omit the air-quality figures and give little detail on changes in the worst-feature categories. A more complete overview and carefully selected, accurate comparisons would strengthen the report.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable report structure: an introduction, an overview and two detail paragraphs. This gives the reader a basic route through the information, and phrases such as “Overall” and “while” help signal comparisons. However, the progression is uneven: the final paragraph discusses noise and litter but leaves air quality out, while the preceding paragraph combines several best and worst categories without clearly separating their trends. Some links are awkward or unclear, particularly “represented the proportion of approximately 58%,57% respectively,” where the figures and categories are difficult to match. Improve cohesion by grouping the positive and negative survey results systematically, then treating the three problem trends together, with clear references to each year.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of task-related vocabulary, including “proportion,” “declined,” “major problem” and “wide range of shops.” These choices allow you to describe categories and changes, and the meaning is generally understandable. Some wording is repetitive or imprecise, however: “best thing about living in London” appears several times, and “represented the stable proportion” is not a natural way to describe figures that remain similar. “Individuals were seen litter to be” is also an awkward collocation that makes the sentence harder to follow. Aim for more precise reporting verbs and natural combinations, such as “accounted for,” “was rated as,” and “remained broadly stable.” This would make the account more concise and fluent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including clauses linked with “while” and “which,” and the overall meaning can usually be followed. Some errors in agreement, articles, sentence construction and punctuation remain. For example, “The bar charts and line graph illustrates” has a subject–verb agreement error, and “while mixture of people represented” needs an article. The construction “70% individuals were seen litter to be” is grammatically faulty; a clearer form would be “70% of respondents regarded litter as a major problem.” There are also missing spaces after full stops and commas, as in “year.Cost” and “respectively,particularly.” Check agreement and article use, and proofread punctuation while retaining your attempts at complex sentences.

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