Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-19
IELTS Writing Task 1 question
The chart below gives information about how families in one country spent their weekly income in 1968 and in 2018.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
1968 and 2018: average weekly spending by families
Student answer (Band 5.5)
The bar chart compares the percentages of residents in five Australian cities who bought fresh coffee, bought instant coffee, or visited a cafe for coffee or tea during the previous four weeks.
Overall, visiting a cafe was the most popular activity in four of the five cities, while buying fresh coffee was the least common choice in every city. In addition, the proportion of people purchasing instant coffee was generally higher than that of those buying fresh coffee.
Cafe attendance was highest in Melbourne, where just over 60% of residents had visited a cafe in the previous four weeks. Sydney followed closely at 60%, while the figures for Hobart and Brisbane were approximately 58% and 55%, respectively. Adelaide recorded the lowest percentage, at just under 50%.
With regard to coffee purchases, buying instant coffee was consistently more popular than buying fresh coffee. Around 50% of people in Brisbane purchased instant coffee, making it the highest figure among the five cities, followed by Hobart at about 49%. The proportions in Melbourne, Adelaide, and Sydney were approximately 46%, 45%, and 44%, respectively.
By contrast, fresh coffee attracted considerably fewer buyers. Around 44% of Sydney residents bought fresh coffee, compared with 43% in Melbourne. The figures were much lower in the remaining cities, standing at approximately 34% in Hobart, 34% in Brisbane, and 35% in Adelaide.
Taking everything into account, the survey indicates that Australians generally preferred drinking coffee or tea at cafés over purchasing coffee for home consumption, while instant coffee was consistently more popular than fresh coffee across the five cities.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 1.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 7.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 7.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 1.0
The response is completely off-topic. The prompt requires the student to summarise a chart showing family weekly spending in one country in 1968 and 2018 across various categories such as food, housing, and leisure. However, the student has written a response about a completely different chart detailing coffee and cafe preferences across five Australian cities. Because the response fails to address the prompt and visual data provided, it cannot receive a passing score for Task Achievement. Band 1.0 is awarded as the writing is completely unrelated to the task set.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5
Despite being off-topic regarding the visual data, the essay itself is internally well-structured. The student uses a clear paragraph structure, starting with an introduction, followed by body paragraphs detailing specific categories (cafe attendance and coffee purchases), and a concluding summary. Cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'By contrast', and 'Taking everything into account' are used effectively to guide the reader through the text, demonstrating a clear logical organisation.
Lexical Resource — Band 7.0
The vocabulary used throughout the essay is varied and appropriate for describing statistical data and survey results. The student successfully employs a range of functional phrases and precise vocabulary items, such as 'proportion of people', 'consistently more popular', and 'considerably fewer buyers'. Minor spelling or word-choice errors are absent, showing a strong control of lexical items relevant to Task 1 style writing, even though the content does not match the prompt.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.5
The student demonstrates a strong command of grammatical structures. There is a healthy mix of complex sentences containing dependent clauses and participial phrases, such as 'Melbourne, where just over 60% of residents had visited a cafe...' and 'Making it the highest figure among the five cities...'. The vast majority of sentences are completely error-free, with accurate punctuation and tense consistency throughout.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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