Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-11-10

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The chart below shows the results of a survey about people’s coffee and tea buying and drinking habits in five Australian cities.

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The bar chart illustrates the consequence of a survey about coffee and tea buying and drinking habits of people's in five Australian cities, in the last 4 weeks.

Overall, residents of Melbourne went to a cafe for Coffee or tea recorded the highest percentage, whereas bought a fresh coffee had the lowest in Brisbane.

Regarding, the first 3 cities Melbourne recorded high percentage above 60% of people went to cafe for coffee or tea in last 4 weeks and other two categories were below 50%, followed by Sydney most people bought fresh coffee at 44% as compared with other cities, but drinking in cafe and bought instant coffee is the highest one in sydney. In brisbane the greatest category is also drinking in cafe as compare with other two categories at above 55%.

In Adelaide, this is the only city in which most people bought instant coffee at 50% instead of went to the cafe for coffee and the least category is bought fresh coffee below 35%. The last city is Hobart residents went to cafe recorded above 60% which is also the topmost category and then followed by instant coffee and least one is fresh coffee.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the chart’s main pattern: café visits are the leading activity in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Hobart, while instant coffee is highest in Adelaide. You also note that fresh coffee is comparatively low in Brisbane and Adelaide, and include several relevant figures. However, some comparisons are inaccurate or unclear. For example, Sydney’s café figure is about 61%, so it is also above 60%; saying “the first 3 cities” have café figures above 60% overlooks that Brisbane is only about 55.5%. The claim that fresh coffee is lowest in Brisbane is also incomplete, since Adelaide is similarly low. A clearer overview and more precise city-by-city comparisons would make the key features more fully reported.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview and a sequence of city-specific details. This gives the reader an overall route through the information, and phrases such as “In Adelaide” and “The last city is Hobart” help signal shifts. However, progression is sometimes difficult to follow because comparisons are packed into long sentences, particularly the sentence beginning “Regarding, the first 3 cities…”. Linking phrases such as “followed by” and “and then” are repeated, and some references—such as “the first 3 cities”—are not sufficiently clear. Organise the body around consistent comparisons, and use shorter sentences with explicit city names and category labels to make the relationships easier to track.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough chart-related vocabulary to communicate the main categories, including “percentage,” “category,” “highest” and “least.” There are also attempts at varied phrasing, such as “recorded” and “topmost.” However, several choices are unnatural or imprecise: “the consequence of a survey” does not mean the survey’s findings, and “drinking in cafe” is not an accurate way to describe the chart’s café-visit category. Capitalisation is inconsistent (“Coffee,” “sydney,” “brisbane”), and “people’s in five Australian cities” is an awkward expression. Choose standard reporting language such as “the survey results show” and “visited a café,” and use the chart’s category labels consistently. This would improve precision and naturalness.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentences, and the overall meaning is usually recoverable. However, some sentence structures are faulty or incomplete, which limits clarity. For example, “residents of Melbourne went to a cafe for Coffee or tea recorded the highest percentage” lacks a clear grammatical connection between the subject and “recorded”; “Regarding, the first 3 cities…” is also an incomplete opening construction. There are errors in articles and agreement, as in “a fresh coffee” and “the least category is bought fresh coffee,” as well as inconsistent tense and sentence punctuation. Build comparisons with a clear subject and verb—for example, “Café visits were highest in Melbourne”—and check each sentence for complete clauses, articles and consistent past-tense reporting.

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.