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)

The line chart illustrates the result of a survey about people's cofee and tea buying and drinking habits in five Australian cities.

Overall, The majority of people prefer going to a cafe for cofee or tea, followed by instant cofee. However fresh cofee is the least favored beverage across all the cities.

In the most cities a significant propotion of people went to a cafe for cofee or tea in last 4 weeks, 60% population of Sydney 63% of Melbourne and 55% of Brisband and 50% of Adelaide 63% of Hobart citizens went to cafe for taking cofee or tea.

On the other hand, 45% population of Sydne 48% of Melbourne, 53% of Brisbane 50% Adelaide and 54% of Hobart popultion brought instant cofee in same period.

However, 44% population of Sydney, 43% of Melbourne, 33% of Brisband and 34% of Adelaide, and 38% of Hobart citizens Brought fresh cofee in last 4 weeks.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the three activities and give an overview that correctly notes café visits were generally the most popular and fresh coffee the least popular. You also report figures for all five cities, and most are close to the chart. However, the overview overgeneralises: fresh coffee was not the least popular in every city, since in Sydney its figure was slightly below instant coffee but in other cities café visits were highest and fresh coffee lowest; this should be stated more precisely. Some figures are rounded or slightly inaccurate, such as Brisbane fresh coffee (about 34.5%, not 33%) and Sydney café visits (about 61%, rather than 60%), though these are minor. The response is 144 words, below the 150-word minimum, and several comparisons remain underdeveloped.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate paragraphs for café visits and the two types of coffee purchases. This makes the main categories easy to locate. However, progression within the data paragraphs is limited: the figures are mostly listed city by city, with little direct comparison between cities or between activities. Linking phrases such as “Overall,” “On the other hand,” and “However” help signal sections, but the repeated contrast markers do not always express a clear relationship. The café paragraph also runs several figures together without clear punctuation, making the sequence harder to follow. Grouping the highest and lowest results and using clearer sentence boundaries would make the organisation more coherent.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant vocabulary for describing the chart, including “survey,” “majority,” “significant proportion,” and “followed by,” so the reader can understand the topic and broad comparisons. However, the range is limited and some word choices or collocations are inaccurate, including “prefer going to a cafe” for reported survey behaviour and “brought instant coffee” instead of “bought.” There are also noticeable spelling errors, such as “cofee,” “propotion,” “Brisband,” “Sydne,” and “popultion.” These errors reduce precision and make the writing less fluent, although the intended meaning is usually recoverable. Check spelling carefully and use standard chart-reporting phrases such as “the proportion who visited” and “purchased instant coffee.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

Most of the response uses simple sentence patterns, and the opening sentence and overview communicate their basic meaning. There is an attempt to use a more complex structure in “However fresh cofee is the least favored beverage across all the cities,” but the overall range remains narrow. Errors in sentence construction and punctuation occur frequently enough to affect clarity. For example, “60% population of Sydney 63% of Melbourne…” is a run-on list without articles or a clear grammatical frame, while “in last 4 weeks” lacks an article. Capitalisation is also inconsistent, as in “Brought fresh cofee.” Build complete sentences around the figures, use articles and prepositions consistently, and punctuate lists so each comparison is clear.

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

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