Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-11-02

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 charts illustrates the outcome of a survey about coffe and tea purchasing and drinking habits of Australians in Sydney,melbourne,Brisbane,Adelaiede and Hobart.

Overall, it shows that cafes are more popular among the Australians from all five cities where cafe visitors in the last four weeks are above 60% whereas, the percentage of people buying coffe or tea remains as low as almost 34% and instant coffe at 45%

People living in Sydney has visited cafe for having coffe or tea are as high as 60% or above and the ones,who either bought instant or fresh coffee, are between 44% to 45%.Those who are from Melbourne and Hobart, also has similar habits but with different percentage,where cafe visitors sit around between 60% to 63% in both cities, fresh coffee in Melbourne is at around 48% and instant coffe at about 43%.In Hobar there's a slight spike for instant coffee buyers have almost 55% but there's a drop of the fresh coffee drinkers which is about 37%.

The residents of Brisbane and Adelaide and their habits of buying fresh coffee is similarly low which sits at 34% to\\and instant coffee and cafe visitors are also low compared to other cities in percentage.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the three survey behaviours and give an overview that café visits are generally more popular, which is a relevant main feature. However, the overview overstates this pattern: café attendance is not above 60% in every city, reaching about 55.5% in Brisbane and 49.5% in Adelaide. Some comparisons are useful, such as the similar fresh-coffee figures for Brisbane and Adelaide, but several figures are reversed: in Melbourne, fresh coffee is about 42.5% and instant coffee about 48.5%, not the other way around. The final comparison is incomplete and does not report the café figures for Brisbane and Adelaide. More accurate selection and clearer coverage of all three categories would make the summary more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, an overview, and paragraphs comparing the cities. It also groups Sydney separately from Melbourne and Hobart, then turns to Brisbane and Adelaide, which gives the reader a basic route through the data. However, progression becomes less clear in the long comparison sentence beginning “Those who are from Melbourne and Hobart,” where several figures and contrasts are crowded together. The final sentence is unfinished in meaning, particularly “34% to\and instant coffee,” so the comparison cannot be followed reliably. Some linking is also awkward, as in “whereas” after the overview’s first clause. Use shorter comparison sentences and clear transitions such as “By contrast” to improve cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant task vocabulary, including “survey,” “percentage,” “fresh coffee,” “instant coffee,” and “café visitors,” so the topic is generally clear. There is also some attempt to vary wording with phrases such as “slight spike” and “a drop.” However, vocabulary is repetitive, and several choices are imprecise or unnatural: “habits of Australians” and “fresh coffee drinkers” do not accurately describe what the chart measures, which is purchasing or visiting cafés. Spelling errors such as “coffe,” “Adelaiede,” and “Hobar” are noticeable, while “sit around” is too informal for this report. Choose precise reporting terms and check spelling carefully to make the descriptions more reliable.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a relative clause in “The ones, who either bought instant or fresh coffee,” and contrastive structures. However, errors are frequent and sometimes make relationships between ideas difficult to follow. For example, “The bar charts illustrates” has a subject–verb agreement error, and “People living in Sydney has visited” uses an incorrect verb form. The sentence about Melbourne and Hobart also has faulty agreement and clause construction (“also has similar habits”). Punctuation and spacing are inconsistent, especially around commas, and the final sentence is grammatically incomplete. Practise accurate subject–verb agreement and build comparisons with complete, controlled clauses before adding more complex structures.

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