Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-08-13

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 chart provides the information about the habits of citizens buying and drinking coffee and tea for past 4 weeks in five Australian cities. Overall, the survey represents the highest figure for people who went to cafe for tea and coffee in all listed cities. While the percentage of residents remained the least who bought fresh coffee.

Melbourne recorded the highest percentage around 64% for people who visited cafe to drink coffee or tea in last 4 weeks, crossing Sydney by 3% and Hobart by almost 1%. Whereas Brisbane comprised of least percentage for people who purchased fresh coffee, which was around 33%, and the highest share (approximately 53%) for city residents who bought instant coffee throughout the time among all these cities. The percentage of citizens fluctuated moderately for the cities with purchase of instant coffee. Sydney and Melbourne accounted for the greatest gap in people who liked to go for

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers the main features of the data, such as the high cafe attendance and the contrast between fresh and instant coffee consumption. However, the report is incomplete as it ends abruptly mid-sentence. While the overview is present, the analysis of the data is cut short, preventing a full comparison of all five cities. To improve, ensure that all data points are clearly linked to the cities and that the summary is fully concluded. The current lack of completion significantly impacts the ability to fully address the task requirements.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response uses some cohesive devices like 'Whereas' and 'Overall' to link ideas. However, the abrupt ending creates a major issue with coherence, as the final sentence is incomplete and lacks a logical conclusion. Paragraphing is also insufficient; the response would benefit from a clearer separation between the overview and the detailed body paragraphs. The flow of information is logical in the beginning, but the structural failure at the end hinders the overall progression of the report.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, using terms like 'fluctuated,' 'recorded,' and 'comprised.' However, there are some awkward collocations and phrasing issues, such as 'remained the least who bought' and 'comprised of least percentage.' These errors occasionally make the meaning slightly less precise. To reach a higher band, focus on using more natural collocations for describing data trends, such as 'accounted for the lowest proportion' rather than 'comprised of least percentage.'

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'the survey represents the highest figure for people who went to cafe' (missing article 'a' or 'the') and 'remained the least who bought' (awkward structure). Additionally, the incomplete final sentence demonstrates a lack of control over sentence completion. While the errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to affect the overall clarity of the writing.

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.