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 line chart illustrates the frequency of people who purchased coffee and tea in five different Australian cities during the last 4 weeks.
Overall, in almost all the cities people prefer to visit a cafe for tea or coffee except Adelaide. In Adelaide, the percentage of people buying instant or fresh coffee is nearly same that is about 50%. The lowest choice of people is to buy fresh coffee.
In Sydney and Melbourne, the percentage of people who bought fresh coffee is almost about 45% while people who go to a cafe for coffee is more than 60% and those who drink instant coffee is slightly more than 45%. The pattern of Sydney and Melbourne is quite similiar. Brisbane and Hobart has equal percent of people who use instant coffee. However, Brisbane is behind Hobart when comparing freah coffee and cisi
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0
The response only partially addresses the task requirements. First, it misidentifies the visual data format in the introduction by calling it a 'line chart' when it is actually a bar chart. Second, the content is incomplete because the response ends abruptly mid-sentence ('freah coffee and cisi') and fails to reach the minimum word count of 150 words. While you attempted an overview and highlighted some features such as cafe visits and fresh versus instant coffee in Adelaide, the information is restricted, mechanical, and lacks full development due to the truncated ending. To improve, ensure you check the chart type carefully, complete all planned sentences, and fully develop comparisons across all five cities while meeting the word count requirement.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0
The response shows some basic organisation, such as dividing the writing into an introduction and body paragraphs, but there is no clear overall progression or logical flow. Cohesive devices are sometimes inaccurate or awkward, such as 'In Adelaide, the percentage of people buying instant or fresh coffee is nearly same that is about 50%', which lacks proper article usage and conjunctions. Referencing is also occasionally unclear or repetitive, and paragraphs lack smooth transitions between ideas. Additionally, the incomplete ending disrupts the cohesion of the final section entirely. To achieve a higher band, you need to use cohesive devices more accurately, ensure each paragraph has a clear thematic focus, and logically connect your overview and supporting details without abrupt cut-offs.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate to convey basic information. You attempt some task-related terms like 'percentage', 'frequency', 'instant coffee', and 'fresh coffee'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors, such as misspelling 'similar' as 'similiar' and 'fresh' as 'freah', alongside incomplete words like 'cisi'. Word choice is also repetitive, relying heavily on basic structures to describe data. To move to a higher band, you should incorporate a wider variety of less common vocabulary and precise synonyms for describing trends and proportions, while paying closer attention to accurate spelling and word forms.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The text demonstrates a limited range of sentence structures, relying mostly on simple and straightforward complex sentences. Attempts at more complex structures frequently result in grammatical errors, such as missing articles ('the percentage of people is nearly same that is') and awkward phrasing like 'The lowest choice of people is to buy fresh coffee'. There are frequent errors in prepositions, subject-verb agreement, and articles that can cause some difficulty for the reader. To reach a higher band, you need to demonstrate greater control over complex sentence patterns, ensure correct article and preposition use, and eliminate basic grammatical slips throughout the response.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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