Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-05
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 graph illustrates information about public's habits of buying coffee and tea, and drinking habits in five Australian cities.
Overall, Majority of people of Melbourne and Hobart, Cydney had habits of going to a cafe for coffee or tea. The least number of population of Adelaide had habit of buying and drinking. Buying fresh coffee was least observed in all cities.
The people of Melbourne and Hobart with more than 60% were mostly used to visit cafe for coffee or tea in last four weeks, as compared to Brisbane and Adelaide, comprising of 55% and 50% of residents. Sydney was the second highest city where 615 of people had habits of going to cafe for coffee or tea in last four weeks.
The habit of purchasing fresh coffee was observed in small number of population as compared to other habits. However, Cydney and Melbourne shared same percentage of residents towards habits of buying fresh coffee, comprising 43%. Similarly, Brisbane and Adelaide had similar number of population with the percentage of 33, having a habit of buying fresh coffee.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response covers the main features of the data, including comparisons between cities and categories. However, there are significant inaccuracies in data reporting. For example, you state '615 of people' for Sydney, which is clearly a typo for 61% or 65%, and the data interpretation for Adelaide and Brisbane is slightly imprecise. While you identify the main trends, the lack of precision in reporting the figures hinders the clarity of the summary. To improve, ensure that all data points are transcribed accurately from the chart and that you clearly distinguish between the three categories (cafe visits, fresh coffee, instant coffee) to provide a more comprehensive overview.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, with an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs. However, the use of cohesive devices is somewhat mechanical and occasionally repetitive. For instance, the transition 'Similarly' is used, but the flow between sentences is sometimes disjointed due to grammatical errors. The referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the phrase 'same percentage of residents towards habits of buying fresh coffee'. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring that each paragraph has a clear topic sentence would help to improve the overall flow and logical progression of your ideas.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, but it lacks the precision required for a higher band. You use basic phrasing such as 'had habits of' and 'small number of population' repeatedly. There are also issues with word choice and collocation, such as 'public's habits' instead of 'the public's habits' and 'comprising of' (the verb 'comprise' should not be followed by 'of'). To reach a higher band, you should aim to use more varied and precise terminology to describe trends and statistics, such as 'a significant proportion' or 'a marginal difference'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede readability. Common issues include missing articles ('Majority of people', 'in last four weeks'), incorrect preposition usage, and subject-verb agreement errors (e.g., 'Sydney was the second highest city where 615 of people had habits'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with comma usage. While the meaning is generally clear, the frequency of these errors prevents the writing from reaching a higher band. Focusing on basic sentence construction and proofreading for articles and prepositions would be highly beneficial.
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.