Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-30
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 chart illustrates the outcomes of a survey regarding people's coffee and tea purchasing and drinking habits in fives Australian cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart.
Overall,during the past month going to cafe for coffee or tea was the most common habit in Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney.
However, buying the instant coffee was more common than the fresh coffee in all fives cities.Since in the past 4 weeks, went to cafe was the highest percentage than the buying instant and fresh coffee. Additionally, Melbourne had the highest percentage of cafe visitors roughly 63% Hobart had the highest percentage buying instant coffee around 54%. Although Sydney had the highest proportion buying fresh coffee(about 44%). Moreover, Adelaide was the only city where cafe visitors and instant coffee purchases were at approximately equal at each 50%. Therefore, in the last four weeks buying the fresh coffee was least percentage ratio in four cities except Sydney.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0
The student covers all parts of the task by reporting the main features and making relevant comparisons across the five Australian cities. An overview is attempted, noting the dominant habits such as cafe visits and instant coffee consumption. However, there are some minor inaccuracies and awkward phrasing in data interpretation, such as stating that 'going to cafe was the highest percentage than the buying instant and fresh coffee' which lacks precise comparative clarity. Furthermore, the claim that Adelaide had cafe visitors and instant coffee purchases 'at approximately equal at each 50%' is slightly misaligned with the visual data where instant coffee was 50% and cafe visits were 49.5%. Despite these minor flaws, the key trends are adequately identified, supporting a Band 6.5 descriptor profile.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0
The response is arranged coherently, but paragraphing is severely neglected, with the entire body of the text lumped into a single block after the introduction sentence. Cohesive devices are used, but sometimes inaccurately or mechanically (e.g., 'Since in the past 4 weeks, went to cafe was the highest percentage', 'Therefore, in the last four weeks buying the fresh coffee was least percentage ratio'). The progression of ideas becomes muddled due to poor sentence linking and a lack of clear paragraph breaks to separate distinct analytical points. Referencing and substitution are occasionally faulty. This places the response firmly within the Band 5.0 to 5.5 range, demonstrating some organisation but lacking clear overall structural progression and appropriate paragraphing.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary relevant to the topic, including terms such as 'purchasing and drinking habits', 'proportion', and 'survey'. However, there are frequent inappropriate word choices and word-formation errors, such as 'fives Australian cities', 'buying the instant coffee', and 'went to cafe was the highest percentage' (treating a verb phrase as a noun). Less common lexical items are attempted but lack precision and natural collocation. Spelling is generally accurate, but lexical control is insufficient to reach Band 6 due to noticeable strain and unidiomatic phrasing.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but grammatical control is weak. There are numerous structural errors and missing elements, such as missing subjects or misuse of participles ('Since in the past 4 weeks, went to cafe was the highest percentage'), missing articles ('buying the instant coffee', 'went to cafe'), and faulty comparative constructions ('least percentage ratio in four cities'). Punctuation is also problematic, particularly run-on sentences and missing commas around introductory clauses. These frequent errors cause occasional difficulty for the reader, aligning with the Band 5 descriptor.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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