Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-08-04

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 6.0)

The vertical bar chart compares the frequency of eating at fast food restaurants among people of USA from the year 2003 to 2013. The provided data is calibrated in percentile.

Overall it is crystal clear that most of the population ate fast food once a week in resorts while people while people who ate everyday remained lowest across the years.

At a fleeting glance, it is evident that proportion of people who ate junk food at restaurent several times a week were highest at 20% in 2006 and slightly more than 15% in 2003 and 2013. In addition, people who ate once a week were about 31% in 2003 and jumped to approximately 33% before declining to less than 30%.

Moreover, residents who ate fast food in restaurant once or twice a month decreased from 30% in 2003 to 25% in 2006 and experienced a major jump to almost 33% in 2013. While people with preference to eat fast food a few times a year rose from about 13% in 2003 and became consistent at 15% in both 2006 and 2013.

Furthermore, the percentage of people who gave most of the importance to eating fast food at restaurant along with people who gave no importance were under 5% across the years. Looking at the data it can be concluded that residents of USA reduced the frequency to some extent, as reason could be health maintenance.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response covers all parts of the task and provides a clear overview of the main trends. You have successfully identified the key features, such as the dominance of the 'once a week' category and the low frequency of daily fast-food consumption. However, the analysis is slightly hampered by some inaccuracies in data reporting. For instance, you mention 'once a week' peaked at 33% before declining, but the chart shows it remained relatively stable or fluctuated differently. Additionally, the inclusion of personal speculation regarding 'health maintenance' in the conclusion is unnecessary for an Academic Task 1, which should remain objective and focused solely on the provided data.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, overview, and body paragraphs. You use a range of cohesive devices such as 'In addition', 'Moreover', and 'Furthermore' to transition between ideas. However, some of these transitions feel slightly mechanical, and there are minor issues with referencing and flow. For example, the phrase 'people while people' in the second paragraph is a repetitive error that disrupts the flow. Paragraphing is used appropriately to group related data, which helps the reader follow the progression of your argument.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'calibrated', 'proportion', and 'consistent'. However, there are some word choice errors and awkward collocations. Using 'resorts' to describe fast-food restaurants is incorrect, and 'junk food at restaurent' contains a spelling error. The phrase 'gave most of the importance to' is also unnatural in this context. To reach a higher band, focus on using more precise academic vocabulary and ensuring that your collocations are accurate for describing statistical data.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, which is appropriate for this task. There are several grammatical slips, such as 'people of USA' (should be 'the USA'), 'at restaurent' (missing article), and 'were highest at 20%' (subject-verb agreement error with 'proportion'). While these errors are noticeable, they do not impede communication. To improve, pay closer attention to article usage and subject-verb agreement, and try to incorporate a wider variety of complex structures with greater precision.

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

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