Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-17

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 the percentage of residents of five Austrailian cities who bought and consumed tea and coffee in last 4 weeks.

Overall, the highest percentage of citizens went to cafe for drinking tea or coffee in all cities except Adelaide where instant coffee was bought an consumed by the most people. There is a relatively lower proportion of people who bought fresh coffe in these five cities.

In last four weeks, Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart represented the greatest number of citizens who went to a cafe for tea and coffee with the percentage between 60% and 65% approximately. Whereas, instant coffee comes next in these three cities where the proportion of Hobart's residents who bought instant coffee was nearly 55% while that of Melbourne citizens's was nearly 48-49% and that of Sydney was 45%. The number of people consumed fresh coffee was lowest in these cities with more than 38% to nearly 44%.

Brisbane and Adelaide presented the number of people who prefer to go to cafe as 55% and nearly 50% respectively. Instant coffee was consumed by people beteen

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the chart’s main pattern: café visits are highest in most cities, while fresh coffee purchases are generally lower. You also make relevant comparisons among Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart, and your approximate figures for these cities are broadly consistent with the chart. However, the overview misstates Adelaide: café visits, at about 50%, are still marginally higher than instant coffee purchases, at about 50% (roughly 49.5% versus 50%), rather than instant coffee clearly being the highest. More importantly, the response ends while describing Brisbane and Adelaide, so their instant and fresh coffee figures are not reported. To strengthen the response, complete this comparison and ensure the overview reflects the small differences accurately.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, an overview and paragraphs comparing groups of cities. This helps the reader follow the broad pattern, and phrases such as “Whereas” and “with” attempt to connect comparisons. However, progression is uneven: the final paragraph begins a comparison of Brisbane and Adelaide but stops at “Instant coffee was consumed by people beteen,” leaving the information incomplete and disrupting the ending. Some links are also awkward or unclear, such as “Whereas” beginning a sentence without a main clause, and “these cities” requires the reader to infer which cities are meant. Use complete comparison sentences and finish the city-by-city grouping so each paragraph develops a clear, complete set of information.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for describing the chart, including “percentage,” “proportion,” “represented,” and “approximately.” These choices show an attempt to avoid repeating basic terms, and the meaning is generally understandable. However, some word choices and collocations are imprecise: “the greatest number of citizens” refers to counts rather than percentages, while “consumed” is not what the chart measures; it records purchases and café visits. There are also spelling errors, including “Austrailian,” “coffe,” and “beteen,” and “citizens’s” is incorrectly formed. Prefer precise chart language such as “the highest proportion,” “bought,” and “visited a café,” and proofread spelling and possessives to improve accuracy.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a contrast in the overview and comparisons using “while” and “whereas.” The main ideas can usually be understood, but some grammatical errors affect clarity. For example, “who bought and consumed tea and coffee in last 4 weeks” is missing an article before “the last four weeks,” and “instant coffee was bought an consumed” has an incorrect conjunction. The construction “The number of people consumed fresh coffee” also needs a relative clause or a different subject, such as “The proportion of people who bought fresh coffee.” In addition, “Whereas” is used as a sentence fragment. Build complete clauses, check verb forms and articles, and punctuate contrast structures carefully.

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