Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)
The bar chart compares the result of a survey about people's coffee and tea purchasing and drinking frequencies in five Australian cities. The cities compared are Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Hobart.
Overall, the figure for number of people buying coffee or tea from a cafe in last 4 weeks was highest for all the cities except in Adelaide, while the number for fresh coffee bought in last 4 weeks remained lowest in all the cities. The percentage of consumers purchasing instant coffee in last 4 weeks were higher than percentage of buying coffee or tea from a cafe in Adelaide.
Total percentage of city residents buying coffee or tea from a cafe in last 4 weeks was more than 60% for Sydney, Melbourne, and Hobart, while for Brisbane the percentage was close to 55%. The lowest is recorded for Adelaide at roughly 48%.
The second highest proportion was residents purchasing instant coffee in last 4 weeks for all the cities. For people buying fresh coffee in previous 4 weeks, Sydney recorded almost 45% and almost 40% for Melbourne, while the figures for Brisbane, Adelaide, and Hobart were approximately 33%, 35% and 38% respectively.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 7.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 6.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 6.0 |
| Overall | 6.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0
The response covers all parts of the task well, providing an overview and reporting key features and comparisons from the chart. The overview successfully captures the main trends, such as café visits being generally highest and fresh coffee purchases being generally lowest. Specific figures are cited accurately for the most part, matching the provided visual data, such as noting Sydney's café attendance at 61% and Melbourne's at 63.5%. However, there is a minor inaccuracy in the second paragraph where the student states that the percentage of consumers purchasing instant coffee in Adelaide was higher than the percentage buying coffee or tea from a cafe (50% versus 49.5%, which is correct, but the generalisation in paragraph two contains a slight slip regarding the overall exception). Overall, the information is well selected and supports the requirements of Task 1 effectively.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5
The response is logically organised with a clear introduction, an overview paragraph, and two body paragraphs detailing specific data points. Cohesive devices are used adequately to link ideas, such as 'Overall', 'while', and 'for Brisbane'. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate general trends from specific city breakdowns. Progression is generally clear throughout the text, although some transitions between sentences in the body paragraphs could be smoother to enhance the flow of comparisons. Referencing is mostly clear, though occasional mechanical phrasing slightly detracts from natural cohesion.
Lexical Resource: Band 6.0
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using appropriate terms related to surveys and statistics, such as 'purchasing and drinking frequencies', 'proportion', and 'residents'. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, though some awkward phrasing occurs, such as 'figure for number of people' and 'percentage of buying coffee'. Spelling is generally accurate, and word choices are mostly appropriate, though occasional minor lexical slips prevent the score from reaching a higher band.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0
The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating clauses with 'while', 'as', and relative structures. There are several grammatical errors present, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('The percentage of consumers... were higher', which should be 'was higher') and missing articles ('The lowest is recorded for Adelaide' instead of 'The lowest figure'). Despite these errors, communication is not impeded, and the majority of sentences remain understandable. Control over punctuation is generally satisfactory.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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