In this paper, the behavior of an elastically mounted cylinder, subjected to vortex-induced vibrations (VIV), is investigated by a low dimensional model. The classical wake oscillator model, as a standard model, predicts the behavior of the system at high mass-damping ratios but fails in modeling the system at low mass-damping ratios. A modified wake oscillator model is introduced in order to describe the response of the system over a wide range of mass-damping ratios. The results of this new model are compared to experimental results from the literature and shown to be in good agreement. The new model can describe most of the features of vortex-induced vibration phenomenology, such as the Griffin plot and lock-in domains.

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