Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-16

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 information in the bar chart represents percentages of people using three different ways to get a coffee or tea in 5 different cities of Australia.

Amongst all 5 different cities the most popular way to drink a coffee or tea is going to a cafe except Adelaide. The highest figure is from the people of Melbourne and Hobart compared to other cities. Then comes Sydney where 61 percent people prefer to go this way, the fourth city is Brisbane with approximately 55 percent people going to cafes.

Buying instant coffee is the second most popular way in all 5 cities with Hobart having the highest of 54 percent, the second is Brisbane with 53 percent, thurd Adelaide at 50 percent, Melbourne with 46 percent and at last comes aydney with 45 percent. The least popular way is buying fresh coffee which obvious as it is very time consuming.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify several important patterns, including café visits being the leading activity in most cities and instant coffee being more popular than fresh coffee. You also include useful comparisons, such as Hobart’s high instant-coffee figure and Sydney’s café result. However, the overview is incomplete: café attendance is highest in Melbourne, not equally highest in Melbourne and Hobart, and Adelaide is the exception where instant coffee slightly exceeds café visits. The fresh-coffee figures are not reported, and the claim that this is least popular “which obvious as it is very time consuming” gives an unsupported explanation rather than describing the chart. The response is also one word below the required minimum. Include a clearer overview and accurate key figures for all three categories.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a generally understandable sequence: it introduces the chart, discusses café visits, and then turns to instant and fresh coffee. Phrases such as “Then comes Sydney” and “The least popular way” help signal comparisons, and the main points are grouped into paragraphs. However, the progression is somewhat mechanical, with repeated ranking language (“the second,” “the fourth,” “at last”) rather than a clear overview followed by organised comparisons. The opening paragraph also combines several city comparisons in a way that makes the ranking less precise. A separate overview paragraph and more explicit links between the three activities would make the organisation clearer and cohesion less dependent on listing.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of task-related vocabulary, including “percentages,” “most popular,” “highest figure,” and “buying instant coffee.” These choices make the general subject clear, and you attempt to vary the wording rather than repeat the chart labels throughout. Some expressions are imprecise or unnatural, however: “ways to get a coffee or tea” does not accurately describe the survey activities, while “people prefer to go this way” suggests preference rather than reported behaviour. There are also spelling errors in “thurd” and “aydney,” and “time consuming” is an unsupported interpretation. Use precise reporting language such as “the proportion who visited a café” and check spelling carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use both simple statements and some more developed structures, including “Amongst all 5 different cities…” and the comparison beginning “Buying instant coffee is the second most popular way…”. The overall meaning is usually understandable, but some grammatical errors remain. For example, “61 percent people” needs an article or a different construction (“61 percent of people”), and “The highest figure is from the people of Melbourne and Hobart” has an unclear structure. The sentence ending “which obvious as it is very time consuming” is also incomplete and grammatically faulty. Aim for complete, well-formed comparisons, and check articles, sentence boundaries, and agreement when describing figures.

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

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