Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-27

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 4.5)

the graph illustrates the percentage of coffee brought into five major cities of Australia: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Hobart in the last 4 weeks.

At a glance, it can be seen that the most people visited coffee shops in Melbourne, at 63 percent. Subsequently, Hobart, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide are, respectively, 62%, 61%, 56% and 49%.

However, Hobart is on top for most instant coffee bought, at 54%, followed by Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, respectively, 53%, 50%, 48% and 46%.

In contrast, Sydeny is on top for bought most fresh coffee by 43%

overall, Hobart is more habiate to drink co

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

The response fails to meet the minimum length requirement of 150 words, stopping abruptly at 103 words with an incomplete sentence ("overall, Hobart is more habiate to drink co"). While the student attempts to report several data points, such as café visits in Melbourne (63%) and instant coffee purchases in Hobart (54%), the data contains several inaccuracies and misreadings (for example, stating that coffee was "brought into" the cities rather than bought, and misreporting Sydney's fresh coffee percentage). Because the response is significantly under-length and incomplete, it cannot fully address all parts of the task requirements.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

The essay attempts a basic structure with an introduction and separate body paragraphs for the categories, but it suffers severely from the abrupt ending and lack of a complete overview paragraph. While some linking words like "At a glance", "Subsequently", and "However" are used, the logical progression is disrupted by mechanical list-like comparisons using "respectively" with long strings of numbers, which makes the text difficult to follow. Paragraphing is inadequate due to the very short length and fragmented conclusion.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

The lexical range is very limited and contains noticeable errors. The student repeatedly uses the incorrect verb "brought" instead of "bought" (e.g., "percentage of coffee brought into five major cities"). Word choice and collocation are frequently awkward, as seen in the phrase "most people visited coffee shops" or the incomplete final sentence ("more habiate to drink co"). Vocabulary is basic and repetitive, and spelling/word-choice errors restrict clear communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.0

The grammatical structures attempted are largely basic simple sentences or repetitive lists. There are frequent errors in sentence construction, punctuation (such as missing full stops), and word forms. The response concludes with an unfinished sentence fragment, demonstrating a lack of control over complex sentence forms and overall grammatical completion. Errors are frequent and often cause strain for the reader.

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