Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)
The bar chart illustrates the proportion of residents in five Austrailian cities who bought fresh coffee, purchased instant coffee or went to a cafe for coffee or tea in previouss four week.
Overall, going to a cafe was the most popular activity in most of the cities, while buying fresh coffee was least popular. Buying instant coffee was also quites common among the people surveyed.
Looking first at the cafe visit, Melbourne and Hobrat had the highest figures, at about 63%. Sydney was slightly lower, at around 61%, followed by brisbane at about 55%. Adelaida had the lowest percentage, at approximately 49%. As for instant coffee, Hobart had the highest figure, at nearly 54%. Brisbane came next at around 53%. While Adelaida and Melbourne had aroun 50% and 48%, respectively. Sydney had the lowest figure at approximately 46%.
Finally, buying fresh coffee was less common in all five cities. Sydney had the highest percentage, at about 44%. followed by Melburine at 42% and Hobart at 38%. Adelaida and Brisbane had the same figure at around 38%. Overall, people were more likely to buy instant coffee or going to a cafe rather than buying fresh coffee.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The student covers all parts of the task by reporting data for all three categories across the five cities. An overview is successfully presented in the second paragraph, capturing the main trends (café visits being most popular, fresh coffee least popular, and instant coffee common). Key features and comparisons are made, such as noting that Melbourne and Hobart had the highest café figures while Adelaide had the lowest. However, there are some minor data inaccuracies and misreadings against the factual reference, such as stating Hobart had the highest instant coffee figure when Brisbane actually had the highest (or close to it at 54.5% vs Hobart's 54.5%), and minor errors in fresh coffee percentages (e.g., stating Adelaide and Brisbane had the same figure at around 38% when Brisbane was 34.5%). Nevertheless, the main features are sufficiently reported to meet Band 6 criteria.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response is logically organized into four paragraphs, following a clear structure of introduction, overview, and two body paragraphs detailing the categories. Cohesive devices are used to guide the reader through the data, such as 'Overall', 'Looking first at the cafe visit', 'As for instant coffee', and 'Finally, buying fresh coffee'. Paragraphing is used appropriately. However, referencing and cohesion occasionally become mechanical or slightly faulty, such as the sentence fragment 'While Adelaida and Melbourne had aroun 50% and 48%, respectively' which connects incorrectly to the previous sentence. Overall, the progression is clear enough to warrant a Band 6.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items and functional phrases like 'proportion of residents', 'most popular activity', and 'respectively'. However, there are several spelling errors and typos throughout the text, including 'Austrailian', 'previouss', 'quites', 'Hobrat', 'brisbane' (capitalization), 'Adelaida', 'aroun', and 'Melburine'. These lexical errors and occasional inaccuracies do not impede communication, placing the performance comfortably within the Band 6 descriptor for vocabulary.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, incorporating relative clauses and comparative forms (e.g., 'The bar chart illustrates the proportion of residents... who bought...'). There are grammatical errors and punctuation issues present, such as the dangling modifier and fragment in 'While Adelaida and Melbourne had aroun 50% and 48%, respectively.' and the incorrect gerund form 'or going to a cafe' instead of 'or go to a cafe' in the final sentence. These errors rarely impede communication, reflecting the characteristics of Band 6 grammar.
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