Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-05

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 chart illustrates the results of a survey about people’s coffee and tea buying and drinking habits in five Australian cities.

Overall, it is clear that, visiting a cafe was the most popular in all the cities except for Adelaide, while people buying fresh coffee was the least common. Melbourne accounted for highest number of cafe visitors.

To begin with, in Sydney, 44% people bought fresh coffee, compared with 46% who purchased instant coffee. However, around 61% went to a café. Melbourne showed a similar pattern, with figures of about 43%, 48% and 64% respectively.

Drawing attention to rest of the data, in Brisbane around 34% bought fresh coffee, while 53% purchased instant coffee and 56% visited a café. Adelaide had the lowest proportion of fresh-coffee buyers at approximately 35%, while instant coffee was slightly more popular at 50%. Finally, Hobart recorded about 39% for fresh coffee, 55% for instant coffee and 63% for café visits.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response covers all parts of the task by reporting the main features and making relevant comparisons across the five Australian cities. However, the length requirement is not met, as the response contains 138 words, falling short of the 150-word minimum (with 19 words copied from the prompt left uncounted). While the overview accurately captures the general trend that visiting a cafe was popular and fresh coffee was least common, some ideas are under-developed. For instance, the conclusion and specific city comparisons could have been extended further. To reach a higher band, you need to write at least 150 words and expand slightly more on the relationships between the data points.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear logical progression from the introduction to the overview and body paragraphs. Paragraphing is used appropriately to group information by cities, such as grouping Sydney and Melbourne together, and handling the remaining cities in the final paragraph. Cohesive devices are generally well managed, with phrases like 'To begin with,' 'However,' and 'Finally' guiding the reader through the data. Referencing is mostly clear, though some transitional links feel slightly mechanical or formulaic. To improve further, ensure smoother integration of cohesive devices without relying on repetitive listing patterns.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully conveying statistical information using terms like 'proportion,' 'survey,' 'popular,' and 'accounted for.' You attempt some less common vocabulary and lexical chunks such as 'recorded about,' 'lowest proportion,' and 'similar pattern.' There are minor inaccuracies in word choice or phrasing, such as 'accounted for highest number' missing the article 'the' and slight awkwardness in phrasing like 'people buying fresh coffee was the least common.' However, these minor errors do not impede communication, allowing the reader to easily follow the data points.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and comparative structures effectively. There are some minor errors in grammar and punctuation, such as missing articles ('accounted for highest number') and a minor punctuation slip in '44% people bought fresh coffee' (which should ideally be '44% of people'). Despite these occasional errors, sentence structures are generally controlled, and meaning is never obscured. To achieve a higher band, increase the frequency of error-free complex sentences and ensure rigorous precision with articles and prepositions.

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

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