Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-10-15

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 and line graph below gives the result of a survey conducted over a three-year period to find out what people think of the city who live in london.

Overall, best things about living in london are range of shops, job opportunities, mixture of people, art galleries, night life and transport. Whereas, worst things about living in london in last three years are cost of living, traffic congestion, crime, cost of housing and transport. The line graph shows three major problems in london according to people.

The first bar chart shows that there is no significiant changs in percentage of best things in london. Meuseum and night life shows gradual increase in percentage in last 3 years while other shows random change. On the other hand, percentage of worst things in london also remained nearly same. However crime rate decreases after 1 year. Lastly, litter in line graph shows a rise in trend after 1 year but at the end it fell back into its previous percentage. While the other two trends shows a minner decrease in percentage throughout the period.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the three chart topics and give a broad overview, noting that the best and worst categories changed little overall and that litter rose before falling. However, the report is only partially developed: it lists categories without selecting and comparing the most important figures. For example, shops were the leading positive feature throughout (45%, 41.5%, then 42.5%), while litter was the highest reported problem in all three years (70%, 75%, 65%); these key patterns are not made clear. The claim that crime “decreases after 1 year” is incomplete, since it fell sharply from 56% to 38% and then edged up to 40%. Include accurate comparisons and a clearer overview of the main highs, lows and changes.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, an overview and a paragraph describing chart details. This gives the reader a basic route through the information. However, progression within the final paragraph is limited: it moves from positive features to negative features and then the line graph, but gives few specific comparisons to connect these points. Some linking is awkward or repetitive, particularly “On the other hand” and “Lastly,” while “While the other two trends…” is left as a fragment rather than a complete sentence. The overview also repeats category lists instead of grouping the charts’ main patterns. Organise the details into clearer comparisons and use linking phrases only where they express a genuine relationship.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant chart vocabulary, including “percentage,” “gradual increase,” “remained nearly same,” and “decrease,” so the reader can generally understand the intended trends. However, the range is limited and several choices or spellings reduce precision: “random change” is vague for small fluctuations, and “crime rate” is not quite the same as the percentage of respondents identifying crime as a problem. There are also noticeable spelling errors such as “significiant,” “Meuseum,” and “minner,” alongside repeated use of “percentage” and “shows.” Use more precise trend language and vary reporting verbs—for example, describe figures as rising, falling, remaining stable or fluctuating, and refer to the share of respondents rather than implying an actual crime rate.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a few complex structures, such as “While the other two trends shows…” and “However crime rate decreases after 1 year,” but grammatical control is inconsistent. Errors occur in agreement and sentence construction: “The bar charts and line graph below gives” needs a plural verb, and “the other two trends shows” also has a subject–verb mismatch. The opening sentence’s clause “the city who live in london” is awkwardly formed, and “Whereas” begins a sentence fragment in the overview. Articles and tense are also often missing or inconsistent, as in “there is no… change” and the present-tense descriptions of a survey covering three years. Practise complete sentences, consistent past-tense reporting and accurate agreement.

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