Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-18

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 4.5)

The bar chart illustrate the results of a survey showing percentage of people bought tea and coffee in last 4 weeks in 5 five Australian cities Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide anh Hobart.

Overall, A significant number of peeopl went to a cafe for tea or coffee in last 4 weeks. while small number of peoople bought fresh coffee.

In Melbourne, about 66% of people went to a cafe for tea or coffee. It is reduced to only 1% for Hobart and at 62% for Sydney

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0

The response is severely under-length, containing only 85 words against the required 150-word minimum, which heavily restricts its ability to fully satisfy the task. While the student attempts to provide an overview and mentions some data points, the selection of features is very limited. Furthermore, the data cited contains significant inaccuracies; for instance, the student claims that about 66% of people went to a café in Melbourne (close, at 63.5%), but then states that this 'is reduced to only 1% for Hobart' (Hobart was actually 63%) and misreports Sydney's figure. Due to the severe word count penalty and inaccurate data reporting, this falls into the lower bands.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.5

The writing is divided into three very short paragraphs, attempting a basic structure with an introduction and an overview. However, there is a lack of clear overall progression due to the fragmented nature of the text. Cohesive devices are minimal, and referencing is faulty, particularly in the final sentence where the comparison between Melbourne, Hobart, and Sydney ('It is reduced to only 1%...') is illogical and confusing. Paragraphing is present, but the extreme brevity prevents any sophisticated logical sequencing or management of cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.5

The lexical range is very basic and limited. The student manages to use topic-related terms such as 'survey', 'percentage', 'cafe', and 'tea and coffee', but makes several word-form and spelling errors, such as 'peeopl', 'peoople', and the typo 'anh'. Vocabulary is repetitive ('went to a cafe for tea or coffee', 'people'), and there is an inability to handle numerical reporting vocabulary precisely, leading to nonsensical claims. The vocabulary used is just adequate to convey the barest topics, but errors cause strain.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.5

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but control is weak. There are noticeable grammatical errors throughout, including subject-verb agreement issues ('The bar chart illustrate'), missing articles ('showing percentage'), and incorrect prepositions ('in last 4 weeks' instead of 'in the last 4 weeks'). Punctuation is also problematic, with missing periods and commas in lists of cities. While some basic sentences are formed correctly, frequent errors and awkward phrasings constrain the grammar score.

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

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