Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

The bar chart illustrates the results of a survey about residents coffee and tea buying and drinking habits in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart. Units are measured in percentage.

Overall, it is clear that people's habit of buying fresh coffee in last 4 weeks is lower in all five cities. While, people's habit of going to a cafe for coffee or tea in last 4 weeks is higher in four cities except Adelaide. However people's coffee and tea buying and drinking habits had some fluctuations in all five cities.

In Sydney, people's going to a cafe for coffee or tea in last 4 weeks is above 60% which is highest in Sydney, while people's habit of buying fresh coffee in last 4 weeks is below 45% which is lowest in Sydney. Similarly, people's habit of buying instant coffee in last 4 weeks in Sydney is above 45%. Above 60% of people's went to a cafe for coffee or tea in last 4 weeks in Melbourne. While, above 40% of people's bought fresh coffee in last 4 weeks, which is lowest in Melbourne, and around 46% of people's bought instant coffee in last 4 weeks. In Brisbane, 56% of people's went to a cafe for coffee or tea in last 4 weeks. While, 34% of people's bought fresh coffee in last 4 weeks which is the lowest in the figure and above 50% of people's bought instant coffee in last 4 weeks.

On the other hand, 49% of people's went to a cafe for coffee or tea in last 4 weeks in Adelaide, while 34% of people's bought fresh coffee in last 4 weeks in Adelaide, matching Brisbane and 50% of people's bought instant coffee in last 4 weeks in Adelaide. In Hobart, around 63% of people's went to a cafe for coffee or tea in last 4 weeks, while below 40% of people's bought fresh coffee in last 4 weeks and 54% of people's bought instant coffee in last 4 weeks which is highest among all the five cities.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student successfully addresses all parts of the prompt by selecting and reporting the main features of the chart regarding coffee and tea habits across the five Australian cities. An overview is attempted, noting general trends and variations, and specific data points (such as Hobart's highest instant coffee consumption at 54.5% and Brisbane's lowest fresh coffee consumption at 34.5%) are accurately cited and compared. However, the overview is somewhat simplistic, and the body paragraphs rely heavily on listing individual city percentages rather than synthesising the information into broader, more striking comparative trends. Consequently, the response achieves a Band 6.5, leaning towards Band 7 for covering all cities and data points accurately, but limited by a somewhat mechanical reporting style.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall progression and is divided into logical paragraphs, beginning with an introduction, followed by an overview, and subsequent body paragraphs detailing the cities. Cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'While', 'Similarly', and 'On the other hand' are used to connect ideas, though some transitional phrasing is slightly awkward or repetitive (e.g., beginning multiple sentences with 'While'). Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different sections of data. Referencing is generally clear, though paragraph internal cohesion can feel disjointed due to the heavy focus on listing standalone data points. Overall, the organizational structure meets the criteria for Band 6.5 to 7.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range to describe visual data, utilizing terms such as 'illustrates', 'results', 'percentage', 'fluctuations', and 'highest/lowest'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors and awkward word choices, most notably the persistent grammatical misuse of 'people's' instead of 'people' or 'the percentage of people' (e.g., 'people's going to a cafe' and 'people's bought'). While the core meaning remains clear, these repetitive errors and a lack of sophisticated paraphrasing prevent the lexical score from reaching the higher bands. The vocabulary is minimally sufficient and appropriate for Task 1, earning a Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response incorporates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including subordinate clauses introduced by 'while', 'although', and 'which'. However, grammatical control is undermined by frequent errors, particularly the erroneous use of the possessive 'people's' as a subject/agent noun phrase throughout the text (e.g., 'people's bought fresh coffee'). Punctuation and article use are occasionally faulty, and fragment sentences or awkward comma splices appear (e.g., 'While, people's habit...'). Despite these flaws, the complex sentences do not entirely impede communication, placing the response solidly at Band 6.0.

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