Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-19

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 7.0)

The bar chart compares the percentages of residents in five Australian cities who bought fresh coffee, bought instant coffee, or visited a cafe for coffee or tea during the previous four weeks.

Overall, visiting a cafe was the most popular activity in four of the five cities, while buying fresh coffee was the least common choice in every city. In addition, the proportion of people purchasing instant coffee was generally higher than that of those buying fresh coffee.

Cafe attendance was highest in Melbourne, where just over 60% of residents had visited a cafe in the previous four weeks. Sydney followed closely at 60%, while the figures for Hobart and Brisbane were approximately 58% and 55%, respectively. Adelaide recorded the lowest percentage, at just under 50%.

With regard to coffee purchases, buying instant coffee was consistently more popular than buying fresh coffee. Around 50% of people in Brisbane purchased instant coffee, making it the highest figure among the five cities, followed by Hobart at about 49%. The proportions in Melbourne, Adelaide, and Sydney were approximately 46%, 45%, and 44%, respectively.

By contrast, fresh coffee attracted considerably fewer buyers. Around 44% of Sydney residents bought fresh coffee, compared with 43% in Melbourne. The figures were much lower in the remaining cities, standing at approximately 34% in Hobart, 34% in Brisbane, and 35% in Adelaide.

Taking everything into account, the survey indicates that Australians generally preferred drinking coffee or tea at cafés over purchasing coffee for home consumption, while instant coffee was consistently more popular than fresh coffee across the five cities.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The student has successfully covered all parts of the task by reporting the main features of the chart, making relevant comparisons, and providing a clear overview. The opening paragraph paraphrases the prompt effectively, and the body paragraphs accurately detail the data for café visits, instant coffee, and fresh coffee across the five Australian cities. While some of the specific numerical values diverge slightly from the reference transcription (for instance, café attendance in Melbourne is reported as just over 60% rather than the exact transcribed 63.5%), the general trends, rankings, and comparisons are well-selected and supported. The summary at the end rounds off the response cohesively. This performance easily meets the requirements for a Band 7.5 to 8.0, showcasing strong selection and reporting.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.5

The essay is exceptionally well-organized and displays a clear logical progression throughout. Each paragraph has a distinct focus: introduction, overall summary, café visits, instant coffee, fresh coffee, and a concluding synthesis. The student uses a variety of cohesive devices naturally, such as 'Overall', 'In addition', 'With regard to', and 'By contrast', ensuring smooth transitions between ideas without mechanical overuse. Paragraphing is used skillfully and appropriately to separate the distinct categories of data. Referential cohesion is also well managed, making the text easy to follow from start to finish. This represents a strong Band 8 performance in terms of structure and flow.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The student demonstrates a sufficient and generally appropriate range of vocabulary for this academic task. Phrases like 'proportion of people', 'consistently more popular', 'home consumption', and 'attracted considerably fewer buyers' show good control and flexibility. Less common lexical items are used with some awareness of style and collocation, such as 'recorded the lowest percentage' and 'significantly higher'. There are very few lexical errors, and word choices are natural and precise throughout. Although it stops short of the most sophisticated or wide-ranging academic vocabulary found at Band 8, it easily secures a solid Band 7.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.5

The writing exhibits a good variety of complex sentence structures, including relative clauses, participial phrases, and comparative constructions (e.g., 'The bar chart compares the percentages of residents in five Australian cities who bought fresh coffee...', 'While buying fresh coffee was the least common choice...'). The majority of sentences are error-free, and grammatical control is maintained at a high level. Punctuation is accurate, and subject-verb agreement or tense usage shows no noticeable flaws. The mix of simple and complex forms is well handled and never impedes communication, fully justifying a Band 8 score for grammatical range and accuracy.

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

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