Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

The bar graph illustrate the consumption of tea, fresh coffee and instant coffee in five diverse cities of Australia including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart.

People of Sydney most likely to go out to the cafes for a coffee or a tea. Around 61 percent of people living in Sydney went to cafes to buy and drink coffee or tea in previous 4 weeks while people who buy instant or fresh coffee were in less ratio. Approximately 44 percent people brought fresh coffee and 45.5 percent people enjoyed instant coffee in Sydney. In Melbourne, mostly people loved to drink coffee at the cafes with the highest ratio of going to out for coffee or tea. While, 42 percent of people drunk fresh coffee and 48 percent bought instant coffee. In Brisbane, people were less likely to brought fresh coffee with the percentage of 34. Most of the people enjoyed drinking at cafes with percentage of 56 and 53 percent brought instant coffee. In cities of Adelaide and Hobart, 34 percent and 38 percent people brought fresh coffee in respective cities. Although, 49 percent and 63 percent brought coffee or tea at cafes and 50 percent and 54 percent people brought instant coffee in respective cities.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

The response covers the main cities and categories, but it addresses the task only partially because it lacks an overview and presents a somewhat mechanical description of individual data points without fully synthesising or comparing the trends. While the student attempts to report percentages for Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Hobart, some key features and comparisons are under-developed. For instance, the data is listed city by city rather than highlighting broader regional patterns, and there is no introductory overview paragraph summarizing the overarching trends across the five Australian cities. To reach a higher level, the response needs to integrate a clear overview statement and group the data logically to draw more meaningful comparisons between fresh coffee, instant coffee, and café visits.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

There is some organisation in the report, as the student attempts to structure the body text by moving through the cities sequentially. However, there is no clear overall progression or introduction, and the response lacks paragraphing, presenting all the information in a single dense block. Cohesive devices are sometimes inadequate or repetitive, with frequent reliance on transition phrases like 'While' and 'In respective cities' used in a mechanical way. Furthermore, referencing is not always clear, making it difficult for the reader to follow the flow of information smoothly. Improving paragraphing, introducing an overview, and utilizing a wider variety of cohesive devices without repetition would significantly enhance the logical flow.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully conveying basic concepts related to coffee consumption and survey data. The student attempts less common vocabulary and phrases such as 'consumption', 'diverse cities', and 'highest ratio', though these are accompanied by some word-choice and word-form errors that do not impede communication, such as using 'brought' instead of 'bought' and 'drunk' instead of 'drank'. Spelling and word formation errors are noticeable in places, but meaning remains generally clear. To achieve a higher score, the student should expand their range of vocabulary to describe statistical trends and ensure accurate word forms and collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response displays a mix of simple and some complex sentence forms, such as subordinate clauses introduced by 'while' and 'although'. However, there are frequent errors in grammar, including incorrect verb forms ('people drunk fresh coffee', 'people brought fresh coffee'), subject-verb agreement issues ('The bar graph illustrate'), and awkward prepositional phrases. These errors occasionally cause some difficulty for the reader. Punctuation is also basic. To improve, the student needs to work on mastering past tense forms for data reporting, ensuring subject-verb agreement, and reducing the frequency of grammatical slips in complex sentences.

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