Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

The chart illustrates the results of a survey about people’s coffee and tea buying and drinking habits in five different Australian cities. There are five different stages that show the the people bought coffee in last 4 weeks.

In the first stage, Sydney people bought the fresh coffee about 44 percent, but the people buy instant coffee about 46 percent and more people went to a cafe for coffee or tea in last four weeks, For the second stage, Melbourne people brought the minor drop in the fresh coffee, but

the other two categories are fell and vice versa. In the third stage, Brisbane people bought coffee about 34 percent, but the instant coffee about the 54 percent, people went to a cafe for coffee or tea 56 percent, For the next stage, Adelaide people bought the fresh coffee is about 34 percent but other two are minor decline. Finally, The Hobart city people bought fresh coffee about 38 percent, and the instant coffee about the 54 percent, and went to a cafe for coffee or tea is around 63 percent.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response attempts to cover the main features of the chart regarding coffee and tea buying habits across five Australian cities. However, the information presented is often imprecise and lacks a clear overview or holistic summary of the data. For instance, the student states that 'Sydney people bought the fresh coffee about 44 percent, but the people buy instant coffee about 46 percent', but fails to effectively synthesize or compare the broader trends across all three categories (fresh coffee, instant coffee, and cafe visits). While the student does reference most of the cities provided in the chart (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Hobart), the data points are sometimes confusingly described, such as 'the other two categories are fell and vice versa', which makes the content difficult to follow. Furthermore, there is a lack of clear comparison between the cities, which is a core requirement of the prompt. Consequently, this performance aligns closely with Band 5, as it addresses the task only partially with limited and under-developed reporting.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The text suffers from significant organizational and cohesive weaknesses. The response is essentially structured as a single massive block of text with only one artificial line break that does not function as a proper paragraph break. There is no clear overall progression; instead, the writing reads like a mechanical list of data points moving arbitrarily from city to city (e.g., 'In the first stage, ... For the second stage, ... In the third stage, ...'). Cohesive devices are used repetitively and often inaccurately, such as relying heavily on formulaic time-sequence markers ('stages') that are inappropriate for static survey data. Additionally, referencing is frequently faulty, making it hard for the reader to track the relationships between the figures and categories being discussed. These issues place the response firmly in the Band 4 to Band 5 range, and a score of 5.0 is appropriate as there is some basic organization, but cohesion is inadequate and repetitive.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive, heavily relying on simple terms such as 'bought', 'coffee', 'tea', and 'people'. There are several word choice and collocation errors throughout the text, including 'brought the minor drop' instead of 'showed a minor drop', and 'the other two categories are fell' instead of 'fell'. The student attempts to use numerical percentages, but the surrounding descriptive language lacks variety and precision. Although the vocabulary is sufficient to convey a general topic about a survey, the noticeable errors and limited range prevent the response from achieving a higher score. It fits the Band 5 descriptor well, showing a limited but minimally adequate range of vocabulary with errors that occasionally cause difficulty for the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates a very limited range of grammatical structures, relying primarily on simple coordinate sentences joined by 'and' or 'but'. Attempts at more complex or varied clauses are frequently faulty. For example, the sentence 'In the first stage, Sydney people bought the fresh coffee about 44 percent, but the people buy instant coffee about 46 percent and more people went to a cafe for coffee or tea in last four weeks' strings together multiple clauses with mixed tense usage ('bought' versus 'buy') and missing prepositions. Errors in tense consistency, article usage ('The Hobart city people'), and missing verbs are frequent throughout the response. Because simple structures are occasionally controlled but complex structures are faulty, resulting in frequent errors that impede smooth reading, this performance merits a 5.0 for Grammatical Range and Accuracy.

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