Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-13

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 bar graph depicts how regularly individuals in the USA consuming junk food in dining outlets from 2003 to 2013.

As per the chart, the highest proportion of people who liked to eat once a week in restaurant was one-third and more than one-third in 2003 and 2006 respectively, while a minimal decline was noted in percentage to 27% in 2013. Meanwhile, Once- twice a month category ranked second highest with 33% and 30% in 2003 and 2013 respectively. A quarter of people preferred to consume junk food one and twice a month in 2006.

By contrast, USA residents who ate several times a week in a café stood at 17% and one- tenth in 2003 and 2006, whereas it slightly decreased to 16% in 2013. 15 % of citizens were to visit restaurants a few times a year in 2006 and 2013 respectively. However, Everyday and never categories accounted for the least chosen, which was between 3% to 5% in three-year times periods.

Overall, the USA residents mostly liked to eat fast food outside once a week in all years. the lowest amount of population preferred eating everyday and never.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response successfully covers all parts of the task by reporting the main features of the provided bar graph and making relevant comparisons across categories and years. The student accurately highlights that eating once a week was the most popular frequency throughout the period, while 'everyday' and 'never' represented the lowest proportions. Key data points such as 33% in 2003 and 27% in 2013 are correctly cited and compared. Although some specific figures could be elaborated further to fully maximize the development of ideas, the overall summary is clear and fulfills the core requirements of Academic Task 1. Therefore, it meets the criteria for Band 6.5, leaning towards Band 6 due to slight under-development in places.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The report exhibits a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs dedicated to different frequency categories, and an overview conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to group related ideas. However, cohesion at the sentence level is occasionally faulty or mechanical. For instance, transitional phrases like 'By contrast' are used, but referencing within and between sentences is sometimes weak, such as 'which was between 3% to 5% in three-year times periods', where the antecedent is ambiguous. Furthermore, cohesive devices are sometimes under-utilized or repetitive, leading to a somewhat choppy progression. These issues align with the Band 6 descriptors for Coherence and Cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items and paraphrasing the prompt ('junk food', 'dining outlets', 'residents'). However, there are noticeable word-choice and collocation errors that detract from precision, such as 'individuals in the USA consuming junk food' (grammatically incomplete verb phrase), 'in restaurant' (missing article and pluralization), and 'Once- twice a month' (awkward phrasing). Vocabulary like 'minimal decline' and 'ranked second highest' shows a good attempt at task-specific language, but inaccuracies in form and precision keep this criterion at a Band 6 level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The text contains a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over grammar and punctuation. Examples of complex structures include 'The bar graph depicts how regularly individuals in the USA consuming...' and 'As per the chart, the highest proportion of people who liked to eat...'. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, such as the gerund/participle error in 'consuming junk food' instead of 'consumed' or 'were consuming', missing articles ('in restaurant', 'in percentage'), and capitalization issues ('Once- twice', 'Everyday'). While these errors do not impede overall communication, they prevent the text from achieving a higher band, fitting comfortably within Band 5.5 to 6.0 descriptors.

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

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