Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-08-18

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 a survey’s conclusion consist of proportion of people who preferred purchasing fresh coffee, instant coffee, and who went for coffee or tea in a cafe from five different Australian cities, namely Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Hobart.

Overall, it is evident that people preferred to had coffee or tea and cafes were recorded in majority amongst all the cities except in Adelaide. Notably people preferred fresh coffee were recorded minimum across the city.

Looking at the data residence who prefer to had coffee or tea from a cafe recorded highest in Melbourne by approximately 64%, closely followed by Sydney and Hobart by approximately 61% and 63% respectively. In contrast, Brisbane and Adelaide recorded approximately 56% and 49% approximately .

With regard to fresh coffee purchases, Sydney was recorded highest by approximately 44% followed by Melbourne and Hobert by approximately 42% and 38% respectively. Whereas Brisbane and Adelaide recorded the lowest purchase by approximately 33% and 34% respectively in terms of instant coffee purchases Hobert measured highest proportion of approximately 54% and Sydney recorded lowest by 45% .

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. The overview is clear, highlighting the general trend of cafe visits being the most popular activity. However, the report could be improved by ensuring data accuracy; for instance, the description of fresh coffee trends contains some inconsistencies in the ranking compared to the visual data. While the main features are selected, the analysis of the data is slightly superficial, and the grouping of information could be more logically structured to better highlight the differences between the three categories (fresh coffee, instant coffee, and cafe visits).

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is organized into logical paragraphs, with an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs focusing on specific categories. Cohesive devices such as 'In contrast', 'Notably', and 'With regard to' are used to link ideas. However, the flow is occasionally hindered by awkward phrasing and repetitive sentence structures. Referencing is sometimes unclear, and the transition between the discussion of cafe visits and fresh coffee could be smoother. The paragraphing is appropriate, but the internal cohesion within the final paragraph is slightly mechanical, making the progression of information feel a bit disjointed at times.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the writer to describe trends and proportions. There are attempts to use specific terminology like 'proportion', 'illustrates', and 'recorded'. However, there are noticeable errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'residence who prefer to had' instead of 'residents who prefer to have' and 'conclusion consist of' instead of 'conclusion consisting of'. These errors do not impede communication, but they limit the precision of the report. To reach a higher band, the student should focus on using more varied and accurate collocations related to data description.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the writer attempts complex sentences, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with verb forms (e.g., 'people preferred to had' instead of 'people preferred to have') and subject-verb agreement. Punctuation is generally functional, but there are instances of awkward phrasing that affect readability. The errors are frequent enough to be noticeable, though they rarely prevent the reader from understanding the intended meaning. Increased attention to verb tense consistency and infinitive structures would significantly improve the accuracy 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.