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 illustrates the percentages of residents in five Australian cities who bought fresh coffee, bought instant coffee, or went to a café for coffee or tea during the previous four weeks.

Overall, visiting a café was the most popular activity in most cities, while buying fresh coffee was generally the least popular. Melbourne had the highest percentage of café visitors, whereas Brisbane had the lowest figure for fresh coffee purchases.

Looking first at fresh coffee, Sydney recorded the highest figure, at about 44%, followed by Melbourne at approximately 43%. The figures were lower in Brisbane and Adelaide, at around 34% and 35% respectively, while Hobart stood at about 39%. Instant coffee was more popular, ranging from approximately 46% in Sydney to 54% in Hobart.

Regarding café visits, Melbourne had the highest figure, at around 64%, followed by Hobart at 63%. Sydney recorded about 61%, while Brisbane and Adelaide had lower figures of approximately 56% and 50% respectively.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response successfully satisfies all the requirements of Academic Task 1 by providing a clear overview and highlighting key features from the chart. The introduction accurately paraphrases the prompt, mentioning that the data covers five Australian cities over the previous four weeks. The writer structures the body paragraphs logically, first comparing fresh coffee and instant coffee, and then addressing café visits. Relevant comparisons are made across the cities, such as noting that Melbourne had the highest percentage of café visitors while Brisbane recorded the lowest figure for fresh coffee purchases. Data points are cited accurately, meeting the criteria for Band 7 by fully selecting and reporting the main features.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The response displays a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. It begins with a helpful overview paragraph that outlines the main trends before diving into specific details. Paragraphing is used effectively, with separate sections for fresh/instant coffee and café visits respectively. Cohesive devices such as 'Looking first at', 'Regarding café visits', and 'while' are used appropriately to guide the reader through the data, ensuring smooth transitions between sentences and ideas, earning a solid Band 7 rating for this criterion.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The student uses a sufficient range of vocabulary appropriate for an Academic Task 1 response, employing phrases like 'illustrates the percentages', 'resident', 'fresh coffee', and 'café visitors'. There is good use of reporting language and approximations such as 'approximately' and 'around'. While the vocabulary is generally precise and suits the communicative purpose well, it stops short of the wider, highly flexible range of uncommon lexical items required for higher bands, placing it firmly within Band 7.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.0

The writer demonstrates good control of grammar and punctuation, utilising a mix of simple and complex sentence structures effectively. Examples such as 'Melbourne had the highest percentage of café visitors, whereas Brisbane had the lowest figure for fresh coffee purchases' and participial phrases like 'ranging from approximately 46% in Sydney to 54% in Hobart' show flexibility and control. The majority of sentences are error-free, and minor errors are absent, indicating a high level of grammatical accuracy consistent with a Band 7 or 8 level.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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