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 percentages.

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

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

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The student covers all parts of the prompt well, providing an overview of the data and reporting figures across the five cities for all three categories. The main features are identified, such as Hobart having the highest instant coffee percentage (54.5%) and Adelaide having the lowest café visiting rate (49.5%). However, the overview states that fresh coffee purchases were lower in all five cities compared to the others, but this is an oversimplification, and the phrasing in the body paragraphs is occasionally repetitive and granular rather than drawing sharper comparisons. Still, the response fully addresses the visual data accurately, earning a solid Band 7.0 for Task Achievement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The response is logically organised into an introduction, an overview, and separate body paragraphs grouping the cities. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Overall', 'In Sydney', 'In Brisbane', and 'On the other hand', which clearly guide the reader through the data. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction/overview from the detailed regional comparisons. However, referencing and transitions can be a bit mechanical at times, relying heavily on repeating sentence structures like 'people's habit of'. Progression is clear throughout, meeting the criteria for a Band 7.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suited to describing statistical charts, using terms such as 'illustrates', 'survey', 'residents', 'percentages', and 'fluctuations'. However, there are notable collocation errors and awkward phrasing, most prominently the repeated use of 'people's' instead of 'the percentage of people who' (e.g., 'people's going to a cafe' and 'people's bought'). Less common vocabulary is attempted but often marred by grammatical awkwardness. Spelling is generally accurate, but the lexical control limits the score to a Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, frequently utilizing relative clauses and comparative forms. However, accuracy is inconsistent due to persistent errors in grammatical structures, such as subject-verb agreement and possessive phrasing ('Above 60% of people's went' instead of 'Over 60% of people went'). Punctuation is generally acceptable, and while these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the response from reaching Band 7.0, fitting the Band 6.0 descriptor well.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.