Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-13
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 bar chart depicts the result of a survey of individual's tea and coffee purchasing and drinking habits among five Australian cities namely Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Hobart.
Overall, the percentage of city residents, who went to a cafe for coffee or tea in last 4 weeks is the highest in comparison of others except one city Adelaide. While the percentage of citizens, who bought fresh coffee in last 4 weeks in Brisbone is lowest in all given cities and catagories.
To begin with, Sydney Melborne and Hobart are having almost similar percentages of people, who went to a cafe for coffee or tea in last 4 weeks. which is 61%, 63% and 63% respectively. However, there is a minimal difference between the fresh coffee buyers in last 4 weeks and the instant coffee buyers in 4 weeks in Sydney, which is 44% and 45% respectively. For Melbourne, the percentage of fresh coffee buyers in last 4 week is 42% and the percentage of instant coffee buyers in last 4 week is 47%. the difference gap has been increased in comparison of Sydney. However, in Hobart, the gap between fresh coffee buyers in 4 weeks and intstant coffee buyers in 4 week has also increased. which is 37% and 54% respectively.
On the other hand, Brisbone has shown the biggest gap between the people who purchased fresh coffee in last 4 weeks and the people who purchased instant coffee in last 4 weeks. the gap is about 18%. The percentange people who went to a cafe for a cofee or tea in last 4 weeks is 55%. For Adelaide, the percentage of individuals who purchased instant coffee in last 4 weeks is the highest in comparison of other categories which is 50% and the people who purchased fresh coffee in last 4 weeks is slightly lower than this 49%.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response covers all parts of the task well by identifying and reporting the main features of coffee and tea habits across the five Australian cities. The student successfully selects key data points, such as the highest percentage of cafe visitors in most cities and the specific figures for fresh versus instant coffee buyers. Comparisons are made effectively between cities like Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, highlighting trends and gaps. While there are a few minor generalisations or slightly imprecise statements—such as misinterpreting Adelaide's highest category—the overall coverage satisfies the requirements for a Band 6.5 to 7.0. The main features are appropriately highlighted and supported with numerical evidence from the prompt.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The text is generally coherent and shows a logical overall arrangement, moving from an overview to specific city-by-city comparisons. Paragraphing is used to separate different sections of the data, such as grouping Sydney, Melbourne, and Hobart together, and placing Brisbane and Adelaide in the final paragraph. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical, with abrupt transitions and sentence fragments, such as 'which is 61%, 63% and 63% respectively' starting a new sentence incorrectly. Referencing and cohesive devices such as 'On the other hand' and 'To begin with' are used, but control over punctuation around dependent clauses is weak, which slightly disrupts the flow and logical progression.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms related to the prompt such as 'purchasing and drinking habits', 'fresh coffee buyers', and 'instant coffee buyers'. However, there are noticeable spelling errors ('Brisbone' instead of Brisbane, 'Melborne', 'catagories', 'intstant', 'percentange') and some awkward word choices or repetitions ('the difference gap has been increased'). While the writer attempts less common vocabulary, inaccuracies in spelling and word form prevent the lexical score from reaching a higher band. Nevertheless, the meaning remains clear throughout despite these slips.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some variety in structure. However, there are frequent grammatical errors and punctuation issues, particularly with sentence boundaries. For example, fragment sentences like 'which is 61%, 63% and 63% respectively.' and 'which is 37% and 54% respectively.' detract from control. Furthermore, issues with subject-verb agreement and article usage appear, such as 'individual's tea and coffee' instead of 'individuals'', and missing articles before superlatives ('is lowest in all given cities'). Despite these recurring errors, they rarely impede overall communication, placing the response squarely at Band 6.0.
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.