Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-06

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 chart illustrates habits of habitants of five australian cities regarding buying and drinking of coffee and tea.

Overall, in 4 out of 5 cities, majority of citizens go to a cafe to drink either coffe or tea, the only exception is Adelide, where the percentage was slightly less than 50%. More people buy instant coffee rather than fresh coffee.

The data demonstrate that a lot of australians go to cafe to buy drinks. The percentage of people going to the cafe on Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart was comperable, i.e. between 61 and 63%. The

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify relevant overall patterns: café visits are highest in four cities, Adelaide is the exception, and instant coffee purchases exceed fresh coffee purchases in every city. These observations are broadly supported by the chart. However, the response is incomplete: it stops after beginning a comparison and gives no account of the fresh- or instant-coffee figures by city, nor does it compare the lower café result in Adelaide with Brisbane. The statement that people go to cafés “to buy drinks” also changes the chart’s measure, which is visiting a café. The response is 96 words, below the required 150, so the main features are not sufficiently selected and reported. Develop the overview with key contrasts and include representative figures for all three categories.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

There is a basic, sensible structure: an introduction, an overview, and a paragraph beginning to describe the data. The overview also groups the main café pattern before the detail. However, the response ends abruptly at “The”, so there is no completed body paragraph or clear progression through the chart’s categories. As a result, the reader cannot follow a full comparison of the five cities. Linking is limited, relying mainly on “Overall” and “The data demonstrate,” and the unfinished final sentence disrupts cohesion. Complete the body paragraph, organise it by category or by meaningful city comparisons, and use clear links such as “By contrast” or “Meanwhile” to show how the figures relate.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some task-relevant vocabulary, including “bar chart,” “percentage,” “instant coffee,” and “fresh coffee,” and “comparable” is an appropriate attempt to summarise similar café figures. However, several noticeable spelling and word-choice problems reduce precision: “habitants” is not the natural term for city residents, “comperable” is misspelled, and “go to a cafe to buy drinks” does not accurately express the chart’s café-visiting category. “A lot of Australians” is also informal and vague for an academic report. The range is adequate for communicating the basic topic, but the short response offers little variety in describing trends or comparisons. Use precise terms such as “residents,” “proportion,” and “visited a café,” and check spelling carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response includes some correctly formed sentences, such as “The bar chart illustrates habits…” and “More people buy instant coffee rather than fresh coffee.” It also attempts a longer sentence with a relative clause: “where the percentage was slightly less than 50%.” However, grammatical control is uneven. In “in 4 out of 5 cities, majority of citizens,” the singular count noun needs a determiner (“the majority”), and “The percentage … on Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart was…” uses an unsuitable preposition and awkward agreement with a list of cities. The final “The” leaves a sentence incomplete. Most structures are simple, with limited variety. Practise accurate articles, prepositions, and complete comparative sentences before adding more complex forms.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.