Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-08-21
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 given graph shows the three different coffee and tea buying and drinking habits of people in five different Australian cities within the last four weeks. The x - axis represent the cities and y - axis illustrates the people by percentage.
The first city in the graph is Sydney, which is highest in terms of buying fresh coffee which is 44% where people buying instant coffee are slightly higher than fresh coffee buyers, that is 45% where there were a large amount of people who went to cafe to drink coffee or tea which is 61%. In Melboume the number of people went to cafe for coffee or tea were 63% which is the highest among all five cities. The people who bought fresh coffee were slightly less than of Sydney which is 42%, where people who bought instant coffee were 48%. In Brisbane the people who bought fresh coffee were 34% which is the lowest of all. The people who bought instant coffee are 53% which slightly lower from the people who bought fresh coffee which is 55%. In Adelaide the people who bought instant coffee were the highest among the other two categories which is 50%, having a minor difference form the amount of people who went to cafe for coffee or tea which is 49.5%. Where people bought fresh coffee were 34.5%. In Hobart the people who bought instant coffee were 54% which is the highest among other five cities in this category. Where people who went to cafe for coffee or tea were 62.5% which is slightly lower than of Melboume. The people who bought fresh coffee were 38%.
Over all we can say that a large amount of population are the people who go to cafe for drinking coffee and tea where Melboume and lowest is Adelaide. The people were least interested in buying fresh coffee than buying instant coffee.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response covers all parts of the task by identifying the three categories across five cities. However, the presentation of data is problematic. The report is essentially a list of statistics for each city, which makes it difficult for the reader to identify the main trends or significant comparisons. For instance, the description of Brisbane contains a factual error where you state 'people who bought instant coffee are 53% which slightly lower from the people who bought fresh coffee which is 55%', which contradicts the provided data. To improve, you should group the data by trends rather than city-by-city, highlighting the highest and lowest performers across categories to provide a more analytical summary.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organized into paragraphs, but the internal flow is repetitive. You rely heavily on 'The people who...' to start almost every sentence, which creates a mechanical feel. While there is a logical progression from city to city, the lack of varied cohesive devices makes the text feel like a list of data points rather than a cohesive report. The concluding paragraph is also quite weak, as it fails to synthesize the information effectively, merely repeating that people prefer cafes over fresh coffee. Using more linking words like 'In contrast,' 'Conversely,' or 'Similarly' would improve the flow significantly.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks the precision required for a higher band. You use basic phrasing such as 'large amount of people' and 'highest among all five cities' repeatedly. There is also some confusion in word choice, such as 'the number of people went to cafe', which should be 'the percentage of people who went to a cafe'. To reach a higher band, you should incorporate more sophisticated terminology related to data reporting, such as 'the proportion of,' 'a significant majority,' or 'the figures for... peaked in...'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Common issues include missing articles ('went to cafe' instead of 'went to a cafe'), incorrect verb forms ('people who bought... which is 44% where people buying...'), and awkward sentence structures that lack clarity. The use of 'where' as a conjunction to link unrelated clauses is a recurring error that makes sentences run on and lose their meaning. While you attempt some complex structures, they are often inaccurate. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and using proper punctuation to separate distinct ideas would greatly enhance the clarity of your writing.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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