Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-12

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 bar chart illustrates the outcome of a survey about people's coffee and tea buying and drinking habits from five Australian cities, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Hobart. The unit of residents across the five cities is measured in percentage and the time frame has been designated for the last 4 weeks.

Overall, residents of all five cities prefered going to cafe for coffee or tea rather than buying fresh or instant coffee in the last 4 weeks. Melbourne takes the high spot for most cafe visitors while Sydney remains at top for buying fresh coffee. However, Hobart holds the top position for instant coffee enjoyers.

Around 68% people in Melbourne prefered going at a cafe for coffee or tea, followed by Hobart, Sydney, Brisbane, and finally Adelaide with less than 50%. People from Hobart sits at top for buying instant coffee at around 54%, followed by Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne, and lastly Sydney.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the chart’s subject and give a clear overview of the main pattern: café visits are generally the most popular activity, while instant coffee purchases exceed fresh coffee purchases in every city. You also correctly identify Hobart as highest for instant coffee and Sydney as highest for fresh coffee. However, the café comparison contains a notable inaccuracy: Melbourne is reported at around 68%, whereas the chart shows about 63.5%, and Hobart is slightly below Melbourne, not second only by a large margin. The response also gives no fresh-coffee figures or comparisons beyond Sydney’s leading position, so this part of the data is less fully covered. Include accurate approximate values and compare the three activities across the cities more evenly.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure, moving from an introduction to an overview and then to supporting comparisons. The overview helps the reader understand the main trends, and phrases such as “followed by” and “finally” make the ranking in the final paragraph easy to follow. This organisation is coherent, but the body coverage is uneven: the last paragraph discusses café attendance and instant coffee, while fresh coffee is not developed. Some rankings are also presented without figures, making the progression less informative. To strengthen the flow, group the comparisons more systematically—for example, describe café attendance first, then contrast fresh and instant coffee purchases—and use approximate figures to support each comparison.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

You use a suitable range of task-related vocabulary, including “survey,” “time frame,” “residents,” “followed by,” and “top position,” and the meaning is generally clear. There is some flexibility in how you describe rankings and preferences. However, several expressions are informal or imprecise for an academic chart summary: “takes the high spot,” “holds the top position,” and “instant coffee enjoyers.” “Prefered” is also misspelled, and “the unit of residents” is an awkward way to describe the measurement. Choose neutral reporting language and precise terms for the measured behaviour, such as “the proportion of residents” and “purchased instant coffee.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You use a mix of simple and more developed sentence forms, including the overview sentence beginning “Overall” and the longer comparison sentence listing the cities. Most sentences remain understandable, and errors do not prevent the reader from following the main message. Some grammatical control is still inconsistent. For example, “People from Hobart sits” has a subject–verb agreement error, while “Around 68% people” is missing “of.” The phrase “prefered going to cafe” also needs an article before “café,” and “Melbourne takes the high spot” shifts into an unsuitable present-tense construction for describing chart data. Check agreement, articles, and sentence patterns, and use consistent reporting forms such as “the proportion who went” or “residents visited.”

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.