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 chart illustrates the comparison of the way coffee is being purchased across five different cities of Australia.
Overall, it is immediately clear that most people prefered going to cafe in order to buy coffee, while purchasing fresh coffee was the least favrouite.
The ratio of people who loved going cafe was highest for Melbourne and Hobart at 63% and 62% respectively closely followed by Sydney at 61%.In Contrast, Brisbane and Adelaide had the lowest percentage 51% and 49%.
The people who bought instant coffee was very popular in Hobart and Brisbane with 54% and 53%. Meanwhile, the city of Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney came after wards with 50%,43% and 46% respectively
The least favrouite among all five cities was purchasing fresh coffee Sydney had the highest ratio with 44%. Likewise, Melbourne and Hobart attained 42% and 37%.The lowest number was recorded for Adelaide and Brisbane at 34.5% and 34%.
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 three categories from the chart (buying fresh coffee, buying instant coffee, and visiting a café) across the five Australian cities, providing an appropriate overview in the second paragraph. Key features and comparisons are highlighted, such as noting that café visits were the most popular activity overall, while purchasing fresh coffee was the least popular. However, there are some minor numerical inaccuracies when reporting data from the chart, such as stating Brisbane and Adelaide had a café percentage of 51% and 49% (whereas Adelaide is approximately 49.5% and Brisbane is 55.5%), and reporting Hobart's café habit as 62% instead of the approximate 63%. Despite these minor figures discrepancies, the main trends and overviews are successfully identified and supported with data points. Therefore, this performance meets the criteria for Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response is organized into logical paragraphs, beginning with an introduction and overview, followed by separate body paragraphs addressing café visits, instant coffee purchases, and fresh coffee purchases. Cohesive devices are used to connect ideas, such as 'Overall', 'In Contrast', 'Meanwhile', and 'Likewise'. However, paragraphing and referencing can feel slightly mechanical or abrupt, and some transitions are affected by punctuation and spacing errors (e.g., missing spaces after periods). Progression is clear overall, but the logical flow between sentences occasionally stumbles due to awkward phrasing or minor structural gaps. This aligns well with the Band 6 descriptor where information and ideas are coherently arranged, but cohesion can be faulty.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms like 'illustrates', 'purchasing', 'percentage', and 'ratio'. However, there are notable spelling errors ('prefered', 'favrouite' repeated multiple times, 'after wards') and awkward word choices or collocations, such as 'the way coffee is being purchased' and 'The people who bought instant coffee was very popular'. While the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the main message, these lexical slips and spelling inaccuracies prevent the response from achieving a higher band. The vocabulary range is sufficient for the task requirements, justifying a Band 6 score.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The response includes a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, attempting relative clauses and introductory dependent clauses (e.g., 'The ratio of people who loved going cafe was highest...'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors and punctuation issues throughout the text. Examples include subject-verb agreement errors ('The people who bought instant coffee was very popular'), missing prepositions ('going cafe'), and missing spaces or incorrect punctuation marks between sentences (e.g., 'Sydney at 61%.In Contrast...', 'respectivelywith'). Complex structures are often marked by errors that, while they rarely impede overall communication, occur frequently enough to prevent the score from reaching a Band 6.5 or 7.0. Control over grammar is fair but inconsistent.
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.