Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

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

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 given bar chart shows a comparision between people's preference to buy a coffee and a tea with their drinking habits in the Australia's five major cities.

Overall, the chart includes Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart in the comparision. While there are three different types of habits shown in the chart such as fresh Coffee, instant coffee and the people who went to a cafe for drink.

In cities like Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart have the most people who choose to drink their coffee and tea in the cafe and respectively shares around 60%, 63% and 62%. While in Brisbane and Adelaide both had approximately 55% and less than 55% respectively. In addition, less than 35% of people in Brisbane and Adelaide bought fresh coffee in last 4 weeks. Whereas Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart's residents shares around 44%, just over 40% and less than 40% respectively.

Also, there have been most people from in Hobart mostly buys an instant coffee with percentages of 54%, followed by Brisbane with 52%. Although the citizens from Sydeny, Melbourne and Adelaide holds the percentages 45%, 48% and 50% those who bought an instant coffee in last four weeks.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the three measures and make relevant comparisons, including the high café figures in Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart and the lower fresh-coffee figures in Brisbane and Adelaide. Most reported values are broadly consistent with the chart. However, the overview mainly lists the cities and categories rather than summarising the main patterns. A clearer overview would state that café visits were the highest measure in four cities, while instant coffee purchases led in Brisbane and Adelaide, and that fresh coffee was generally the least popular. Some comparisons are also imprecise: Adelaide’s café figure is about 50%, not simply “less than 55%,” and Brisbane’s fresh-coffee figure is around 34.5%, so “less than 35%” is accurate but could be compared more explicitly with other cities.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, an overview and two paragraphs grouping café/fresh-coffee figures and instant-coffee figures. This gives the reader a generally coherent route through the information. However, the overview repeats the categories instead of establishing the key trends, and some linking is mechanical or unclear. For example, “While there are three different types…” is a sentence fragment, and “In cities like Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart have…” combines two incompatible sentence patterns. The repeated use of “While,” “Whereas” and “In addition” does not always show the relationship between comparisons precisely. Use complete topic sentences and group figures by a clear contrast, such as café visits versus purchases.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant task vocabulary such as “bar chart,” “percentages,” “bought fresh coffee” and “instant coffee,” so the subject is generally clear. There are also attempts to vary wording with “residents,” “citizens” and “choose.” However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or awkward, including “preference to buy a coffee and a tea with their drinking habits,” “shares around,” and “holds the percentages.” Spelling errors such as “comparision” and “Sydeny,” along with inconsistent capitalisation of “Coffee,” reduce accuracy. Prefer precise reporting language such as “the proportion of residents who…” and “accounted for,” and check spelling and standard forms before finishing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including comparisons introduced by “While” and “Whereas,” and the main figures can usually be understood. However, some sentence structures are faulty, as in “In cities like Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart have…” and “While there are three different types of habits shown…,” which is a fragment. There are also errors in agreement and verb forms: “people… shares,” “most people… buys,” and “citizens… holds.” Articles and prepositions are sometimes awkward, as in “in the Australia’s five major cities” and “bought fresh coffee in last 4 weeks.” Build comparisons as complete clauses, maintain subject–verb agreement, and use consistent past-tense reporting for the survey period.

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