Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-10-20

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 6.5)

The given charts illustrates the results of a three-year survey of Londener's opinions on the best and the worst aspect of living in the city, on whether certain environmental problems are considered serious.

Overall, the opinions remained fairly consistent over the period. The range of shops was always seen as the London's best features. Cost of living, Traffic congestion and crime remained the worst aspect of living in the city. The litter problem was the most serious environmental issue faced by the residents.

Regarding the positives, the range of shops remained the most popular feature at around 45% and slightly dropped to 43% by year 3. Job opportunities and mixture of people were also well rated at around 35% each, though both edged down by year 3. By contrast, museum and art galleries was the only category which rose steadily from 29% to 35% approximately. Night life and transport were the least popular of all.

Turning to the negatives, cost of living was the biggest concern of people residing in London which was recorded at around 58% falling to 50% by year 3. Traffic congestion stayed at 55% both the years before declining to 48%. While crime fell sharply from about 58% to 38%, then recovered to 40% by third year. The line graph depicts that litter was the most serious issues of all three categories which started at 70% and spiked to around 75% before gradually decreasing to 65%. Whereas, air quality and noise quality declined gradually to roughly around 60% and 54%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

You provide a clear overview of the main patterns and cover the positive features, negative aspects and environmental concerns. The key points are generally accurate: shops lead the positive categories, litter is the highest environmental concern, and crime drops before a slight recovery. You also support these points with relevant figures. Some details are over-generalised or imprecise, however. For example, cost of living, congestion and crime did not all remain among the worst concerns at similar levels: crime fell markedly after Year 1, while congestion peaked in Year 1 and Year 2. The claim that shops were “always” the best feature is also not quite accurate, as the unlabelled category in Year 3 is higher. More precise comparisons across all three years would strengthen the report.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The report has a clear overall structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate paragraphs for positive and negative findings. The progression from general patterns to supporting figures is easy to follow, and signposts such as “Regarding the positives” and “Turning to the negatives” help guide the reader. This is a coherent arrangement, but some linking is mechanical, and a few transitions leave relationships between ideas unclear. For instance, “While crime fell sharply…” is not smoothly connected to the preceding sentence, and “Whereas” begins a fragment-like contrast after the line-graph sentence. Grouping the environmental data into a complete, clearly linked sentence and varying transitions would make cohesion more flexible and polished.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

You use a suitable range of vocabulary for describing survey data, including “remained fairly consistent,” “edged down,” “fell sharply,” and “gradually decreasing.” These choices help convey trends and comparisons, and the meaning remains clear. However, some word choices and collocations are inaccurate or repetitive: “the worst aspect” and “the most serious issues” do not fit the plural subjects, while “noise quality” is not the intended category. There are also spelling and form errors, such as “Londener’s” and “museum and art galleries.” Aim for more precise chart language and check common collocations—for example, refer to “noise levels” and “the most serious environmental problem.” This would improve accuracy and flexibility.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentences, including clauses with “though,” “which,” and “while,” and most of the report remains understandable. Some grammatical errors persist, particularly with subject–verb agreement, articles, plurals and sentence boundaries. For example, “The given charts illustrates” should use a plural verb, and “the range of shops was always seen as the London’s best features” has problems with both article use and number agreement. “Traffic congestion stayed at 55% both the years before declining” is also awkwardly constructed, while “Whereas, air quality…” is not a complete sentence. Review agreement and article use, and ensure contrast clauses are attached to a complete main clause. Greater control of these forms would make the complex sentences more accurate.

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