Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-08-05

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 compares the recordings of last 4 weeks as results of a survey about people's coffee and tea buying and drinking habits in five Australian cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart.

Overall, there are three different habits among which majority of the people prefer visiting a cafe for coffee or tea. Melbourne recorded the highest share in this category, whereas Adelaide remained the lowest. The second category was about the proportion of people who bought instant coffee, Hobart accounted for the highest percentage in this category. In contrast, the habit of people who bought fresh coffee was less prioritized, particularly in Adelaide and Brisbane.

Visiting cafe for drinking coffee or tea was observed as the most preferable habit where Melbourne recorded the highest share with around 63%, followed by Hobart and Sydney accounted for approximately 63% and 61% of city residents respectively. Brisbane was fourth in the list with 55%, Adelaide ended up being the lowest recording around 49.5% population.

Two habits were similar to each other, one where the people bought fresh coffee and other where people bought instant coffee. For instant coffee, Hobart resulted up being the top-most city followed by Brisbane, both being accounted between 50-55%. Adelaide and Sydney recorded exactly 50% and 45% respectively, with Sydney being the lowest in the list. People in Melbourne who preferred this habit were between 45-50% precisely.

The least opted habit was people bringing fresh coffee, where Sydney was the highest and Melbourne ending as second in between 40-45% and Hobart recorded below 40% of city residents. Brisbane and Adelaide were the least preferable cities for this habit, ending up with the proportion between 30-35%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers all parts of the task by identifying the main features and making relevant comparisons across the five cities. You have successfully highlighted the key trends, such as the popularity of visiting cafes compared to buying fresh or instant coffee. However, the analysis is slightly hampered by some inaccuracies in data reporting. For instance, you state that Melbourne and Hobart both accounted for approximately 63% in the cafe category, but the chart shows distinct differences. Additionally, the description of the data for fresh and instant coffee is occasionally confusing, as the grouping of cities into percentage ranges lacks the precision expected at higher bands. To improve, ensure that data points are cited more accurately and that comparisons are clearly linked to the specific figures provided in the chart.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs that group the data by category. The progression of ideas is generally clear, and you use a range of cohesive devices such as 'whereas', 'in contrast', and 'followed by' to connect your points. However, some transitions are slightly mechanical, and the referencing is occasionally repetitive. For example, the phrase 'in this category' is used frequently. To reach a higher band, focus on varying your cohesive devices and ensuring that the relationship between sentences is more fluid, particularly when moving between the different habits described in the chart.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'proportion', 'residents', and 'prioritized' appropriately. There are some instances of slightly unnatural collocations or word choices, such as 'resulted up being' or 'least opted habit'. While these do not impede communication, they limit the precision of your writing. To improve, try to incorporate more sophisticated vocabulary related to data trends, such as 'predominant', 'marginal', or 'fluctuated'. Expanding your range of synonyms for 'highest' and 'lowest' will also help you avoid repetitive phrasing and demonstrate a more flexible command of the language.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While you are generally successful in conveying your meaning, there are several grammatical errors that occur throughout the text. Examples include 'the recordings of last 4 weeks as results of a survey' (which is slightly awkward) and 'people bringing fresh coffee' (where 'buying' would be more accurate based on the prompt). There are also minor issues with subject-verb agreement and preposition usage. To achieve a higher score, focus on increasing the frequency of error-free complex sentences and proofreading for small slips in tense and article usage, which currently prevent the writing from being consistently accurate.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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