Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-14

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 6.5)

The bar chart compares people's coffee and tea buying and drinking habits in five different cities of Australia, namely Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart, in the last four weeks.

Overall, it can be seen that the percentage of city residents who went to a cafe was the largest, whereas people who bought fresh coffee comprised the least percentage among all five cities of Australia.

Looking at the percentage of residents who bought fresh coffee in Sydney at 43%, followed by almost 42% and 39% in Melbourne and Hobart respectively. While Brisbane and Adelaide accounted for relatively less proportion of people with approximately 34%.

Notably, the percentage of citizens who bought instant coffee was the smallest in Sydney at 45%, followed by Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Hobart (accounted for approximately 55%) in the increasing order.

Meanwhile, the percentage of people who went to a cafe was the greatest in both Melbourne and Hobart which comprised 64%, whereas Sydney recorded just over 60% of people. The percentages of city residents of Brisbane and Adelaide visiting a cafe were 55% and just below 50% respectively.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The student successfully covers all parts of the task by reporting the main features of the coffee and tea buying and drinking habits across the five Australian cities. Key data points such as the cafe visiting percentages (reaching 64% in Melbourne and Hobart) and the fresh coffee figures are accurately highlighted. Comparisons are made effectively, such as contrasting the highest and lowest categories and identifying trends across cities. The overview paragraph captures the overarching trends well, noting that cafe visits were the highest overall while fresh coffee purchases were the lowest. The response meets all requirements for Task Achievement, earning a solid Band 7.0 due to clear and well-selected data reporting.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The response demonstrates a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. Each paragraph focuses on a specific category or comparison (e.g., fresh coffee, instant coffee, and cafe visits), which helps structure the report logically. Cohesive devices are used reasonably well to guide the reader through the data, such as 'Overall', 'Notably', and 'Meanwhile'. However, there are minor structural issues in sentence integration, such as fragment sentences like 'While Brisbane and Adelaide accounted for relatively less proportion of people with approximately 34%', which lack a main verb clause. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different features of the chart. Overall, the coherence meets the criteria for Band 6.5, leaning towards Band 7.0 due to clear progression.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for an Academic Task 1 report, including terms like 'percentage', 'residents', 'citizens', 'proportion', and 'comparisons'. Less common lexical items and phrases are attempted, such as 'comprised the least percentage' and 'in the increasing order'. However, there are some minor collocation and word choice inaccuracies, such as 'accounted for relatively less proportion' instead of 'a relatively smaller proportion', and 'comprised the least percentage' where 'accounted for the lowest percentage' would be more natural. Spelling is accurate throughout the text, and vocabulary errors do not impede communication. This performance aligns well with the Band 6.0 descriptors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and participial phrases successfully in parts, such as 'The bar chart compares people's coffee and tea buying and drinking habits...'. However, grammatical control is inconsistent. For instance, the sentence 'Looking at the percentage of residents who bought fresh coffee in Sydney at 43%, followed by almost 42% and 39% in Melbourne and Hobart respectively' is a fragment lacking a main finite verb. Another fragment occurs with '...and Hobart (accounted for approximately 55%) in the increasing order.' Despite these structural slips, punctuation is generally adequate, and meaning remains clear. This balance of complex structures with persistent minor grammatical errors merits a Band 6.0.

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