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 given chart illustrates survey in London over the period of three years.

Overall, it is clear that the greatest advantage for residing in London is a range of shops. Furthermore, second most significant thing is job opportunities.

Looking at the details, range of shops recorded above 40% in three years, while job opportunities stood in between 30% to 40%. In addition, mixture of people accounted for nearly same as job opportunities. Meanwhile, nightlife and transport remain in between 20% to 30%..

Turning to the remaining details, cost of living had been a major issue in three years decreased from 60% to slightly low than 50%, compared with traffic congestion remained same as cost of living and crime decreased in the third year to 40% from nearly 60%.. Moreover, cost of housing increased a little. The transport decreased to 30% in these three years.

In London the major issues according to 70% of people was litter, around 65% complained about bad air quality and around 60% individuals were having noise issue.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You cover all three chart sections and give a relevant overview by identifying shops and job opportunities as leading advantages. Several broad comparisons are accurate, such as shops remaining above 40% and litter being the most commonly reported problem in the final chart. However, the overview is incomplete: it does not summarise the main pattern in the disadvantages or the downward trend in reported problems such as litter, air quality and noise. Some details are also inaccurate or too vague. Traffic congestion did not remain the same as cost of living across all three years, and transport fell to about 27% in the final two years rather than simply “30% in these three years.” Select the most notable trends and report them precisely.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate paragraphs for the advantages and problems. Phrases such as “Looking at the details” and “Turning to the remaining details” help signal movement between sections. However, progression within the detail paragraphs is sometimes unclear because several categories and years are compressed into broad statements. For example, the sentence about cost of living, traffic congestion and crime combines different trends without clearly distinguishing them. The final paragraph also introduces the third chart abruptly. Use clearer grouping and comparisons, and make each sentence focus on one or two related features. This would make the organisation more consistently easy to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for describing charts, including “recorded,” “accounted for,” “decreased,” and “increased,” and the reader can generally understand the categories being discussed. However, the range is limited and some expressions are unnatural or imprecise, such as “the greatest advantage for residing,” “slightly low than 50%,” and “having noise issue.” Repetition of “major issue” and “in three years” also reduces flexibility. Choose standard chart-report collocations and use precise terms for changes and proportions. For instance, describe a figure as “just below 50%” and say that residents “reported noise as a problem.” More accurate phrasing would make the comparisons clearer and more formal.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a contrast with “while” and a comparison introduced by “compared with.” Meaning is usually recoverable, but errors in sentence construction, articles, agreement and verb forms are noticeable. For example, “The given chart illustrates survey” needs an article, while “the major issues … was litter” has a subject–verb agreement error. “Cost of living had been a major issue in three years decreased” is also structurally faulty, making the relationship between the trend and the time period difficult to follow. There are punctuation problems too, including repeated full stops. Build sentences around a clear subject and verb, and check agreement and articles before finalising.

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