Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-11-02
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 5.0)
The bar charts and line graph illustrates the results of a survey conducted over a span of three years to discover what residents of London think of the city.
Overall,in all three years majority of people liked London because it has a range of different shops.Job opportunities and social life attracted almost same number of people ,whereas quite a fewer number of people liked London because of its night life and transport. The worst things were cost of living,traffic and crime.While cost of housing and transport concerned a fewer people.
The best things of London according to its citizens were,its variety of shops as in the first year 45% loved that about the city .In the second year aroun 43% liked that about it and in third year 44% said they liked the city due to its shops.
The second most popular aspect of life in London was the job oppotunities it offered.The third best thing was its museums and galleries .The % of individuals who liked night life and transport was relatively lower.
The worst things in all three years were cost of living ,traffic and crime .Whereas cost of housing concerned 35% of people in first two years and transport was a problem for 37% in first year and 25% in second and the same in third year.
The line graph is about l
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 4.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5
The response identifies several relevant features, including shops as a leading positive, and cost of living, traffic and crime as major drawbacks. However, it only partially reports the visual data: the final sentence stops at “The line graph is about l”, so the litter, air-quality and noise results are not described. Some figures are inaccurate: shops are reported as about 43% and 44% in Years 2 and 3, rather than approximately 41.5% and 42.5%; transport as a worst feature is given as 37% in Year 1, rather than about 35%. The overview also makes unsupported or unclear comparisons, such as “social life” attracting almost the same number as jobs. Select key trends across all three visuals and report them accurately to strengthen coverage.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0
There is some organisation: an opening statement is followed by an overview and then paragraphs on positive and negative aspects. This gives the reader a basic route through the response. However, progression is weakened by abrupt or incomplete points, especially the final line, “The line graph is about l”, which leaves the report unfinished. Several ideas are compressed together in the overview, and the contrast marker “Whereas” is used to begin a fragment rather than connect a complete sentence. Punctuation spacing is inconsistent, making boundaries between ideas less clear. Use separate, clearly focused paragraphs for the positive features, drawbacks and line-graph results, and connect comparisons with complete sentences.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The response uses a reasonable set of topic-related vocabulary, including “residents”, “variety”, “job opportunities”, “museums and galleries” and “cost of living”. These choices make the main subject understandable, and there are attempts to vary wording with phrases such as “concerned” and “attracted”. However, some expressions are imprecise or unnatural for describing survey results: “loved that about the city” is too informal, while “social life” does not accurately name the chart category “mixture of people”. Spelling errors such as “aroun” and “oppotunities” also reduce accuracy. Aim for precise chart labels and neutral reporting language, such as “respondents cited” or “was selected as a positive feature”.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The response attempts some complex structures, including “because it has a range of different shops” and the contrast between the most and least popular features. However, the range is limited and errors recur. The opening says “The bar charts and line graph illustrates”, where the plural subject requires “illustrate”. Several sentence boundaries are faulty: “The worst things were cost of living, traffic and crime.While…” needs spacing and a complete follow-up clause, and “Whereas cost of housing concerned…” is a fragment. Commas are also missing after introductory wording and around clauses. These problems sometimes make relationships between ideas difficult to follow. Practise accurate subject–verb agreement and build comparisons as complete sentences.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.