Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-10-26

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 graph and line graph illustrates the result of a survey what are the good things and worst things for people about living in London over a three year period.

Overall, range of shops are top most liked things by people in all three years. In addition, job opportunities are the best things about living in London. Moreover, the crime rate is worst things in first year and transport in second and third year worst.

The range of shops was the most popular, wot around 44% of people in year 1, slightly falling about 40% in year 3.Job opportunities and mixture of people both are chosen by around 35% to 37% in 2 and 3 year. Night life and transport and museum and art galleries are least interested by people in all three years.

For the worst things, cost of living and traffic congestion in both 1 and 2 year was about 55%. Followed by, crime rate in London were the biggest worst thing, with 50% of people don't like. Cost of housing and transport were seen a worst things by people 30% to 25%.

Regarding major problems, litter waste was biggest problem in second year saying yes by people, and noise and air quality both show slight decrease by year 3.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify several relevant features, including the popularity of the range of shops and the decline in reported noise and air-quality problems. However, some key comparisons are inaccurate or unclear. The overview says job opportunities are among the best things, but the chart shows the range of shops is consistently highest, while job opportunities rank below the mixture of people in some years. You also describe crime as the worst feature in Year 1, although cost of living, crime and traffic congestion are all close to the top; in Years 2 and 3, transport is not the worst feature. The major-problems section is very brief and omits the high litter and air-quality figures. Select the main trends more accurately and support them with clear comparisons.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and paragraphs covering positive and negative aspects, followed by major problems. This helps the reader identify the chart categories. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes difficult to follow because comparisons are compressed or loosely connected. For example, “Followed by, crime rate…” does not clearly explain how crime compares with the other leading disadvantages, and the final paragraph gives little detail about the three-year pattern. Linking phrases such as “Moreover” and “In addition” are used, but they do not always show a precise relationship between ideas. Group the data more systematically and use transitions to signal comparisons, rankings and changes.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant chart vocabulary such as “survey,” “popular,” “slightly falling,” and “decrease,” so the reader can generally understand the topic and some trends. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, including “top most liked things,” “least interested by people,” and “biggest worst thing.” These expressions make the report sound less precise, particularly when describing rankings. Some labels are also paraphrased awkwardly, such as “litter waste.” Aim for standard data-reporting language and use the chart categories consistently—for example, “most popular feature,” “least frequently selected,” and “major problem.” This would make comparisons clearer and more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple statements and longer comparisons, but control is uneven, and errors sometimes make relationships between figures difficult to interpret. For example, “The bar graph and line graph illustrates” has subject–verb disagreement, while “range of shops are” also uses an incorrect verb form. In “Job opportunities and mixture of people both are chosen,” the word order is awkward, and “crime rate … were” shows a mismatch between singular subject and verb. Sentence boundaries and punctuation also need attention: “year 3.Job opportunities” runs two sentences together. Practise accurate subject–verb agreement, articles and plural forms, and separate each comparison into a complete sentence before attempting more complex structures.

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