Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-02

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 5.0)

In the past decade, people have liked the coffee and tea dichotomy. Several prefer coffee, and some like tea. It depends on their priorities and choices, and on their temperament. Everyone has the authority to choose what they want. This table also shows the results for five Australian cities. It demonstrates that people mostly buy coffee and tea to drink. In Sydney, numerous people buy tea over the last 4 weeks; after that, 45% of people buy Instant coffee, and some buy fresh coffee; results of a survey show that, in addition, more than 60% of people buy tea to drink in Melbourne, and below 50% of people would like to buy Instant coffee, and then between 45% of people buy fresh coffee to drink. Furthermore, in Brisbane, 55% of people like to buy tea; above 50% would like to buy instant coffee; after that, below 35% of people buy fresh coffee. In Adelaide, 50% of people buy instant coffee; below 50% like to buy tea, and then under 35% buy coffee. 5th city in Australia is Hobart, and in this city, numerous people like to drink tea; under 55% of people buy Instant coffee, and down to 40% of people would like to buy Coffee. This table illustrates that most people like tea, and several would like to drink coffee.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

The response addresses the task only minimally and fails to provide a proper overview or accurate reporting of the visual data. The introduction contains irrelevant generalisations about coffee and tea habits and human temperament rather than summarising the chart. Furthermore, the data reporting is confused and inaccurate, frequently misinterpreting the categories in the chart by referring to fresh coffee, instant coffee, and café visits collectively as tea. For example, the student claims that 'numerous people buy tea over the last 4 weeks' followed by percentages for instant and fresh coffee. Key features across the five Australian cities are not clearly selected or contrasted, resulting in a response that falls short of fully presenting the data.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

Information and ideas are not arranged in a truly coherent manner, reflecting a lack of overall progression. The response is written as a single, dense block of text with no paragraph breaks to separate the introduction, body details, and conclusion, making it difficult to follow the logical flow. While some basic cohesive devices like 'after that', 'furthermore', and 'in addition' are used, referencing is frequently unclear, particularly due to the confusion between coffee and tea categories. There is no clear structure organising the data comparisons city by city in a systematic way, which hinders readability and results in a repetitive presentation of the survey results.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive, with noticeable errors that cause difficulty for the reader. The student relies heavily on simple terms like 'people', 'buy', and 'like', and attempts to use less common vocabulary fail due to severe inaccuracies in word choice. Most notably, the fundamental terms for the data categories—such as fresh coffee and instant coffee—are confused with tea throughout the response, which heavily impedes communication. Spelling is generally acceptable, but the misuse of key lexical items prevents the vocabulary from being adequate for this academic task.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response displays a very limited range of structures with frequent errors that can cause difficulty for the reader. While there is a mix of simple and attempting complex sentence forms, clauses are often clumsily joined with coordinating conjunctions or loose punctuation, such as comma splices in sentences like '5th city in Australia is Hobart, and in this city, numerous people like to drink tea; under 55%...' Grammatical inaccuracies include awkward phrasing, omission of necessary articles, and incorrect prepositions inside grammatical patterns (e.g., 'buy tea over the last 4 weeks' instead of 'in the last 4 weeks'). These frequent errors persist throughout the text and restrict the grammatical score.

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