Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-22

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 provided bar chart illustrates the proportions of drinking routine for city residents in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart, from a survey's results.

Overall, the highest percentages in all locations are the people who went to a café in the last four weeks, with an exception of Adelaide, in which instant coffee prevails over a drink bought in a café. Moreover, fresh coffee is the least common habit in all the five cities.

By looking at the graph, it can be seen that Sydney and Melbourne have similar percentages for bought in store coffee, between 60 to 63%. Fresh and instant coffee have also a slight difference of just approximately 2 to 3%. In addition, Brisbane and Adelaide share almost the same amount of fresh coffee which is just under 35%.

Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart report the greatest percentages for buying coffee or tea, with proportions over 60%. Adelaide, instead, has some of the lowest percentages in all the three categories, everything is, in fact, smaller lower than 50%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student addresses the task by selecting and reporting the main features from the bar chart regarding coffee and tea habits across five Australian cities. An overview is provided, noting that visiting cafes is generally the most common habit while buying fresh coffee is the least common, along with a notable exception for Adelaide. Key data points are cited, such as Sydney and Melbourne having similar percentages for cafe visits and Brisbane and Adelaide sharing similar figures for fresh coffee. However, some data references are imprecise or misread, such as stating that Sydney and Melbourne have percentages between 60 to 3% for bought-in-store coffee (which actually represents cafe visits at around 61-63.5%), and the overview contains minor generalisation flaws. Overall, it satisfies the requirements for a Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response is organized into four paragraphs, including an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs detailing specific data features. There is a logical progression overall, moving from general trends to specific city comparisons. Cohesive devices are used to link ideas, such as 'Overall', 'Moreover', and 'In addition'. However, paragraphing and referencing are occasionally awkward or imprecise, such as the transition into 'By looking at the graph' and some vague pronoun/noun referencing like 'everything is, in fact, smaller lower than 50%'. These minor mechanical lapses place the response firmly in the Band 6.0 territory.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, incorporating terms such as 'proportions', 'residents', 'prevails', and 'category'. There are some successful attempts at less common phrasing ('greatest percentages', 'share almost the same amount'). However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as 'drinking routine' instead of 'drinking habits', 'bought in store coffee' when referring to cafe visits, and unidiomatic phrasing like 'smaller lower than 50%'. These lexical slips do not completely impede communication, supporting a Band 6.0 score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses ('people who went to a café', 'which is just under 35%') and introductory prepositional phrases. There are several grammatical errors and awkward phrasings throughout, such as 'the highest percentages... are the people who went', 'have also a slight difference', and 'smaller lower than 50%'. While punctuation is generally acceptable and the errors do not impede overall comprehension, the frequency of grammatical inaccuracies prevents the response from reaching a higher band, making a Band 6.0 appropriate.

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

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