Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-10-12

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?

What are the best things about living in London?

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The bar charts illustrates the outcomes of a survery conduct over three-year period to discover what are the best things about living in london and what are the worst things. The line chart depicts the proportion of people answering yes to major problems in London.

Looking at the details, regardings the best things about living in London; the range of shopes had the highest percentage over the time period, standing over 40%. Meanwhile, job opportunities, mixture of people and museums & art galleries were recorded around under 40%. In contrast night life and transport had least proportion of best things in london, consituted under 30%.

Looking at the worst things cost of living had highest proportion over the time period, around 50%. While traffic congestion was also stand close to the cost of living figure. However, cime recorded nearly 60% in first year, after that this figure fell and represented around 40% in remaing 2 years. cost of living and transport were the lowest worst things, standing over 30% despite the second and third year of transport percentage decreased, accouting for just 30%.

The line charts shows major problem according to survey, litter was at 70% in first year and then this number slightly increased to 75% in second year after that it fell sharply under 70%.While air quality and noise trend were similar in given period of time. Air qaulity was at under 70% in year 1 and it reached under 65% in year 3, meanwhile, noise started at under 60% and then it fell slightily and reacorded at 57%.

Overall, the ranges of shoping was the most best thing about living in london and in contrast the cost of living and traffic congestion were the worst things. Meanwhile, litter was the major problem according to residents of London.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You cover the three visuals and identify several important features, including the range of shops as a leading positive, crime’s fall after Year 1, and litter as the most prominent major problem. The overview also contrasts positive and negative aspects. However, some comparisons are inaccurate or unclear: cost of living was not the highest negative in every year, and transport was not among the lowest negative categories overall; cost of housing was similarly low. Your description of the line chart captures the broad directions, but “fell sharply under 70%” is imprecise, and the final overview omits the decline in air quality and noise. More precise year-by-year comparisons and a clearer overview of the main trends would strengthen the report.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The report has a recognisable structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the positive and negative features, a paragraph on major problems, and a concluding overview. This makes the information generally easy to follow, and phrases such as “Meanwhile” and “In contrast” help signal comparisons. However, the overview comes at the end rather than clearly guiding the report near the beginning, and some links are awkward or incomplete, such as “While traffic congestion was also stand close to the cost of living figure.” Several sentences combine multiple trends without clear separation. To improve progression, give a concise overview after the introduction, then group related comparisons and use linking phrases only where they clarify the relationship.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant chart vocabulary, including “percentage,” “proportion,” “trend,” and “recorded,” and you attempt to describe change with “increased,” “fell,” and “decreased.” However, the range and control are limited by repeated or inaccurate expressions. “The most best thing” is redundant, “range of shopes” is an incorrect form, and “cost of living and transport were the lowest worst things” does not express the intended comparison clearly. Spelling errors such as “survery,” “cime,” and “qaulity” are noticeable and sometimes make reading less smooth. Build a reliable set of collocations for describing charts, and check spelling and word forms before submitting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including clauses introduced by “while,” “after that,” and “despite,” but control is inconsistent. Subject–verb agreement errors appear in “The bar charts illustrates” and “The line charts shows.” Some sentence structures are incomplete or awkward, for example, “While traffic congestion was also stand close to the cost of living figure,” and punctuation is missing after “70%” before “While air quality.” Articles, plurals, and sentence boundaries also need attention. Practise forming complete comparison sentences with a clear subject and verb, and check agreement and punctuation. More accurate control of these patterns would make your comparisons easier to understand.

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