Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-08-27
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 5.5)
The given bar chart illustrates the percentage of residents ' fast food eating habits in various restaurants in USA from the year of 2003 to 2013.
In general, it is evident that going to restaurants to ate a fast food was the most common habit' once or twice a month whereas it is vice versa in case of everyday meal.
In terms of once a week or once or twice a month, while the percentage of eating in restaurants once a week was about 27%, the figure for eating twice in a month was slightly higher , at around 33%. Meanwhile, above 30% of citizens in USA had a habit of eating in restaurants. whereas, the proportion of 20% masses were liked to eating fast food several times a week in 2006 and approximately 17% in 2003.
Moving further, having a fast food meal , few times a year were 15% in 2006 and remained similar in 2013, whereas in 2003 the proportion of eating meal in restaurants was slightly lower , at about 13%. Finally a close similarity can be seen in the allocation of everyday and never eating food at around 3% and 4% in 2006 and 2013 respectively, while in 2003 , figure was higher in terms of never eating food at 5% than everyday meal which accounted for roughly 4%.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response provides a general overview and attempts to report on the data. However, the task achievement is limited by significant inaccuracies in data interpretation. For instance, the chart shows data for 2003, 2006, and 2013, but the description of the trends is confusing and sometimes contradicts the visual evidence. The grouping of data is disjointed, making it difficult for the reader to follow the trends over the ten-year period. To improve, you should focus on clearly identifying the highest and lowest categories and describing the clear shifts in percentages across the three years provided, rather than listing isolated figures that lack a cohesive narrative.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organised into paragraphs, but the logical progression within them is weak. The use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or misused, such as the phrase 'it is vice versa in case of everyday meal', which does not accurately link the ideas. Referencing is also unclear; for example, the transition 'Moving further' does not effectively bridge the previous paragraph to the next. The structure lacks a clear flow, and the relationships between the different categories of fast food consumption are not clearly established, which hinders the overall readability of the report.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The range of vocabulary is limited and repetitive. There are several instances of awkward phrasing and incorrect word choices, such as '20% masses were liked to eating' and 'allocation of everyday and never eating'. These errors occasionally impede the clarity of the message. While you attempt to use some topic-specific vocabulary, the lack of precision in collocation and word form prevents a higher score. Focusing on more natural collocations and avoiding wordy, imprecise phrases will help improve your lexical range and accuracy.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response contains frequent grammatical errors, including issues with articles ('in USA'), subject-verb agreement ('residents ' fast food eating habits'), and sentence structure. Many sentences are clunky or grammatically incomplete, such as 'having a fast food meal , few times a year were 15%'. While the meaning is generally discernible, the high frequency of errors in basic structures and punctuation makes the text difficult to read. You should focus on mastering basic sentence construction and ensuring that your subjects and verbs agree before attempting more complex structures.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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