Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-31

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)

This bar chart demonstrates the results of a survey about individual's coffee and tea buying and drinking habits in five australian cities.

Overall, people mostly goes to a café for coffee and tea in all cities, fresh coffee is the less consumed in all five cities.

Firstly, around 45% of people bought instant coffee in last 4 weeks in Sudney and above 43% of people bought fresh cofee, whatever in Melbourne 48% of people purchased instant coffee while only 43% chose to buy fresh coffee, in Brisbane instant coffee outruns fresh coffee with a huge difference where instant coffee touched 53% whereas fresh one reached approximatly 34% of city's residents, in Adelaide 50% of people prefer instant coffee and only 34% go for fresh coffee in last 4 weeks, lastlly, in Hobart instant coffee reach its peak of percentage for almost 55% of people buynig it in last four weeks and for fresh coffee is only around 37%.

And for people who went to a café for coffee or tea in last four weeks Melbourne has the highest percentege reaching 63% secondally Hobart with 62% then sydney with around 61% then Brisbane with a percentage of approximatly 55% and lastly Adelaide with only less than 50% of city residents.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You cover all three activities and all five cities, and your overview identifies the café category as generally the most popular and fresh coffee as comparatively low. Most reported figures are close to the chart, including Hobart’s high instant-coffee figure and Adelaide’s low café attendance. However, the overview is too broad: fresh coffee is not the lowest category in every city, since instant coffee is lower in Sydney, and café visits are not highest in every city. Your café comparison correctly places Melbourne, Hobart and Sydney near the top, but the claim that Melbourne is highest is slightly inaccurate because Hobart is marginally higher. To strengthen the response, make the overview more precise and select the clearest overall contrasts.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable introduction, overview and two sections of detail, and the reader can follow the shift from coffee purchases to café visits. However, the first detail paragraph is a long, crowded sentence that moves through all five cities using repeated “in” phrases and several linking words. This makes comparisons harder to locate. The sequence “Firstly … whatever … lastlly” is not consistently logical, while “And for people…” begins the final paragraph informally. Use separate sentences or a clearer grouping—for example, compare cities with the highest and lowest figures—then use straightforward transitions. More controlled paragraphing and less mechanical sequencing would make the progression clearer.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant task vocabulary such as “purchased,” “percentage,” “residents” and “reaching,” so the main information is generally understandable. However, the range is limited and some choices are imprecise or unnatural: “fresh coffee is the less consumed” and “instant coffee outruns fresh coffee” do not express the comparisons naturally. Repetition of “people,” “coffee” and “percentage” also limits flexibility. There are noticeable spelling errors, including “Sudney,” “cofee,” “approximatly,” “lastlly” and “percentege,” which reduce accuracy and can distract the reader. Practise accurate spelling and use standard chart language such as “accounted for,” “was higher than” and “recorded the largest share.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple statements and longer comparative sentences, but control is inconsistent, especially when several ideas are joined together. Examples include “people mostly goes,” where the subject and verb do not agree, and “in last 4 weeks,” which lacks an article. The sentence beginning “Firstly, around 45%…” becomes difficult to manage because it combines several city comparisons with commas and incomplete or awkward clauses. There are also problems with verb forms and sentence boundaries, as in “instant coffee reach its peak” and the final long sentence beginning “And for people who went…”. Build comparisons in shorter complete sentences, check subject–verb agreement and articles, and use full stops to separate each city’s data.

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