Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-27

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 results of a survey about peoples coffee and tea buying habits in five different Australian cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart) in the last four weeks.

Overall, most of the people are went to cafe for coffee or tea in last four weeks was recorded as the highest and bought coffee in the past four weeks as a lowest point.

In the Sydney, it is clearly shown that went to cafe is highest with almost 60% and both the purchase of fresh coffee and instant coffee are accounted nearly to 40%. Similarly in the Melbourne, the shopping of fresh coffee as a least and went to cafe for coffee and tea as the peak level approximately 65%.

In the comparison of Brisbane and Adelaide, the purchase of fresh coffee is the lowest in both cities almost 35% and the people went to cafe for coffee or tea in last 4 weeks are at above 55% and brought instance coffee just below to 55% in Brisbane. In the same way, brought instance coffee is dominated more compared to went to cafe for coffee or tea in last four weeks. Finally, at Hobart the most of the people went to cafe is recorded as almost 60% and the 55% as a instant coffee. Brought fresh coffee at around 40%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the chart’s subject and make a relevant overall comparison: café visits are generally the most popular activity, while fresh coffee purchases are often lower. Several city details are also broadly accurate, including fresh coffee at about 35% in Brisbane and Adelaide and instant coffee at roughly 55% in Brisbane and Hobart. However, the overview is unclear when it says “bought coffee” was the lowest, since this does not distinguish fresh from instant coffee, and fresh coffee was not the lowest activity in every city. Some comparisons are incomplete or inaccurate: in Adelaide, café visits (about 50%) were slightly below instant coffee (about 50%), rather than clearly dominated by it. State the main patterns precisely and compare the three activities consistently across cities.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure, moving from an introduction and overview to city-by-city details. Grouping Brisbane and Adelaide together is useful, and transitions such as “Similarly,” “In the comparison,” and “Finally” help signal progression. However, the overview is difficult to follow, and some links between comparisons are unclear. For example, the sentence beginning “In the comparison of Brisbane and Adelaide” shifts between both cities without clearly separating their figures, while “In the same way” introduces a contrast about Adelaide rather than a clear parallel. Use one paragraph for the overview and organise the details around clear comparisons, making each city or pair of cities easy to track.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant chart vocabulary, including “survey,” “purchase,” “highest,” “lowest,” and “approximately,” so the reader can generally understand the comparisons. However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or repetitive. “Shopping of fresh coffee” is less natural than “fresh coffee purchases,” and “the peak level” is an awkward way to describe the highest proportion. The repeated phrase “brought instance coffee” also contains spelling and word-choice problems that make the category unclear; use the chart’s label, “bought instant coffee.” Aim for precise terms such as “proportion,” “share,” and “percentage,” and avoid describing figures as “dominated” when you mean one activity had a higher percentage.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including comparisons introduced by “Similarly” and “In the comparison of…”. However, errors in sentence construction and verb forms are noticeable and sometimes make relationships difficult to follow. For example, “most of the people are went to cafe” combines incompatible verb forms, while “In the Sydney” and “in the Melbourne” use unnecessary articles. The overview’s phrase “was recorded as the highest” also lacks a clear grammatical subject. Work on forming complete clauses with consistent tense, such as “The proportion who visited cafés was highest,” and check articles, agreement, and punctuation. More accurate control of these patterns would make your comparisons clearer.

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