Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-11-09

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The chart below shows how frequently people in the USA ate in fast food restaurants between 2003 and 2013.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

 

Student answer (Band 4.5)

The given bar chart illustrates data about the frequency of eating at fast food restaurants among people in USA between 2003 and 2013 .

Overall , it is clear from the graph that the percentages of people whose frequent resataurants was unstable during the ten years , it experiensed a significant growth the first three years . then it decreased sharply the last three years .

from 2003 to 2006 ,

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.5

The opening identifies the chart’s subject and time span, and you attempt an overview. However, the overview is unclear and does not accurately describe the data: the chart does not show an overall rise followed by a sharp fall in restaurant frequency. Instead, weekly visits were most common in 2003 and 2006, while eating once or twice a month was the leading category in 2013. The response stops just as it begins to discuss 2003–2006, so it gives no supporting comparisons or figures. It also contains only 71 words, well below the required 150, leaving the task substantially incomplete. To improve, report the main pattern accurately, then compare several key categories across all three years with relevant percentages.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 3.5

There is a basic attempt to organise the response: an introduction is followed by an overview and the start of a detail paragraph. The phrase “Overall” signals the overview, and “from 2003 to 2006” suggests a chronological comparison. However, the response ends mid-thought, so there is no clear progression through the chart or concluding coverage of the remaining years and categories. The overview sentence also joins several ideas awkwardly, and the full stop after “years” leaves “then it decreased” as a fragment. Develop separate paragraphs for the overview and key comparisons, and use clear links such as “By contrast” or “Meanwhile” to guide the reader through the data.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The response uses some relevant task vocabulary, including “bar chart,” “frequency,” “percentages,” and “significant growth,” so the topic is generally recognisable. However, the range is limited, and several choices are inaccurate or unnatural: “whose frequent resataurants” does not express the intended idea, while “unstable” is not a precise description of changing proportions. Spelling errors such as “resataurants” and “experiensed” also reduce clarity. Build a more precise set of terms for describing chart data, such as “proportion,” “category,” “rose,” “fell,” and “remained relatively low.” Check spelling and use collocations such as “the proportion of people who ate at fast-food restaurants.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a complex overview sentence using a relative clause, but the structure is difficult to follow: “the percentages of people whose frequent resataurants was unstable” has an unclear clause and faulty agreement. The sentence beginning “Overall” also contains a comma splice, and “then it decreased sharply” is separated as a fragment after the full stop. There is some control of basic sentence patterns in the opening, but the response is too short to demonstrate a wider range or consistent accuracy. Practise forming clear comparisons with accurate subjects and verbs—for example, “The proportion eating weekly rose from 31% to 33%, then fell to 28%.” Use full stops to separate complete sentences and check agreement and clause structure.

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