Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-21

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 graph illustrates the survey about the residents resident's coffee and drinking habits in five cities in Australia. Overall, it is noticeable that Melbourne recorded the highest percentage of people who went to a cafe for coffee in the last 4 weeks, while Brisbane showed the lowest proportion of fresh coffee buyers.

Turning to the details, in Sydney and Melbourne, people who bought fresh coffee accounted for approximately 44% and 42% respectively. Furthermore, the figure decreased to around 34% in Brisbane and Adelaide. In addition, the proportion of city residents in Melbourne, Hobart and Sydney showed 63%, 62% and 61% respectively who went to a cafe for coffee or tea in the last four weeks. Moreover, in other countries, the proportion followed a gradual fluctuation throughout the period. Lastly, in Hobart, 54% of people bought instant coffee whereas Sydney recorded 45% of residents who wanted to buy instant coffee in the last 4 weeks.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student successfully covers all parts of the task by reporting the main features of coffee and tea habits across the five Australian cities. An overview is provided right at the beginning, pointing out key extremes such as Melbourne's café visits and Brisbane's fresh coffee buyers. Specific data points are accurately cited from the prompt, for instance, noting that fresh coffee buyers in Sydney and Melbourne accounted for approximately 44% and 42%. However, there is a minor factual misinterpretation in the body paragraph where the student mentions "in other countries" instead of cities, and states Hobart was 62% when the visual data shows 63% for café visits. Despite these minor discrepancies, the response presents a clear and generally accurate overview of the chart, satisfying the requirements for a Band 6.5 or solid Band 6.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response has a coherent overall arrangement and follows a logical structure. It starts with an introductory sentence and a clear overview, followed by body paragraphs detailing the categories. Cohesive devices are used to link ideas, such as "Overall", "Turning to the details", "Furthermore", and "Moreover". However, some of the referencing and transitional phrases feel slightly mechanical or are used inaccurately, such as the sudden reference to "other countries" when all data pertains to Australian cities. Paragraphing is utilised adequately, but the progression could be smoother to ensure seamless readability throughout.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms like "proportion", "survey", "residents", and "gradual fluctuation". There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, though some lexical choices are imprecise or awkward, such as "residents resident's coffee and drinking habits" (repetition/error) and referring to cities as "countries". Spelling and word choice are generally clear enough not to impede communication, but instances of awkward phrasing and minor errors keep the vocabulary score within the Band 6 range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as relative clauses ("people who went to a cafe") and participial structures. There are several grammatical errors and awkward structures, notably the double possessive/noun repetition in "residents resident's coffee and drinking habits" and the misplaced modifiers in sentences like "the proportion of city residents in Melbourne, Hobart and Sydney showed 63%, 62% and 61% respectively who went to a cafe". While these errors do not impede overall communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the response from achieving a higher band.

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

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