Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

The bar chart illustrates people's coffee and tea buying and drinking habits in five cities of Australia. The survey was conducted in the last 4 weeks in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart. The checklist for this survey was based on the purchase of fresh coffee, instant coffee and went to a cafe for coffee and tea.

Overall, The majority of residents of the fives cities went to a cafe for coffee and tea, while the purchase of the fresh coffee is lowest in all. The figure of instant coffee remained in between.

In Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Hobart, in house purchase of coffee and tea is the highest around 60%, 65%, 55% 63% respectively, whereas 50% of Adelaide's residents brought instant coffee compared with around 48% in house purchase.

The bar chart trend shows that the fresh coffee purchase in all five cities is the lowest. Although the fresh coffee sales with in a city is good enough, if compared with other purchases. The city who purchased the minimum which around 34% in Brisbane and highest is around 44% in Sydney.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response addresses the task only partially. While you correctly identify the general subject matter, your selection of main features is inadequate and inaccurate in places. For instance, stating that 'the purchase of the fresh coffee is lowest in all' is incorrect when looking at the chart as a whole, as instant coffee was lowest in Sydney and Melbourne, and fresh coffee actually outpaced instant coffee in Sydney and Melbourne. Your overview is basic and your supporting details contain factual inaccuracies, such as mixing up café visits with in-house purchases in your third paragraph ('in house purchase... is the highest around 60%, 65%'). To reach a higher band, you need to provide a more accurate overview of the main trends without confusing the categories of buying habits, and ensure that data points are cited correctly from the visual prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

There is some organisation with paragraphing used to separate the introduction, overview, and body details, but the response lacks clear overall progression. Paragraph 3 contains a confusing mix-up of data categories, and the logical link between sentences is frequently broken by awkward phrasing, such as 'The bar chart trend shows that...'. Cohesive devices are basic and sometimes inaccurate or repetitive, resulting in mechanical transitions between ideas. Additionally, referencing is unclear in places, making it difficult for the reader to follow which data points correspond to which categories. To improve Coherence and Cohesion, you should ensure that each paragraph has a clear thematic focus, use a wider and more accurate range of cohesive markers to connect ideas smoothly, and maintain a logical flow of information throughout.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

Your vocabulary is limited and minimally adequate for the task. You rely heavily on repetitive language ('purchase', 'coffee', 'cities', 'highest') and make noticeable lexical errors, such as 'bought instant coffee compared with around 48% in house purchase' and 'The city who purchased the minimum which around 34% in Brisbane'. These awkward word choices and grammatical-lexical mix-ups cause some difficulty for the reader. There are also inaccurate collocations and awkward phrasing throughout the text. To achieve a higher band, you need to expand your lexical range by using synonyms and less common vocabulary related to data reporting (e.g., 'proportion', 'consumption', 'trend', 'outpaced'), and ensure that word choices are precise and natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response displays a very limited range of structures, relying mostly on simple sentences with frequent errors when attempting more complex formations. There are noticeable grammatical errors, including missing prepositions, incorrect verb forms ('went to a cafe' instead of 'going', 'brought' instead of 'bought'), and awkward relative clauses ('The city who purchased the minimum which around 34%'). Punctuation and subject-verb agreement also show frequent inaccuracies that can cause difficulty for the reader. To improve your grammar score, you need to incorporate a wider variety of error-free complex sentence structures, pay closer attention to verb tenses and forms when describing statistical data, and ensure accurate grammatical agreement between subjects and verbs.

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

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