Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

The bar chart illustrates the consumption of fast food in restaurants among Americans in 2003, 2006 and 2013.

Overall, it can be seen that people who consumed fast food once a week and once or twice a month is largest, while the least percentage of consumption of fast food on a daily basis was recorded.

The majority of the Americans ate fast food once a week or once or twice a month. People consuming fast food once a week in 2003 were just over 25%, while in 2006 its consumption increased before decreasing significantly to 27% of people. However, the percentage of people eating fast food were 30% at the beginning of the period and increased substantially to 33% by the end.

Notably, the percentages of people eating fast food every day and never were almost the same, with almost 4-5% in 2003, decreasing by 1 percentage point in the following year and eventually ended up at 2% and 4% respectively.

The proportions of people ate fast food several times a week increased substantially from 17% to 20% in 2006, declining to just over 15% by 2013, whereas the proportion consuming a few times a year rose from almost 13% to 15% in 2006 and remained stable by the end of the period

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response successfully covers all major features and trends shown in the chart. You provided a clear overview at the beginning, identifying the most and least frequent categories, and made relevant comparisons throughout the body paragraphs. For example, you accurately noted that eating fast food once a week or once/twice a month represented the largest proportions, while daily consumption was the lowest. However, there are some minor data inaccuracies in your description of the specific figures and years (such as mentioning 'the following year' when the chart jumps from 2003 to 2006, and some confusion between the 'once a week' and 'once or twice a month' categories). Despite these minor misreadings, all parts of the task are addressed and the main trends are adequately reported, which fits the Band 6.5 to 7.0 profile well. A score of 6.5 is appropriate due to the slight confusion in specific data reporting.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The response has a clear overall structure, beginning with an introduction and a concise overview paragraph, followed by logical body paragraphs that group the data meaningfully. Cohesive devices are used to guide the reader through the information, such as 'Overall', 'However', 'Notably', and 'whereas'. Paragraphing is used appropriately, with each category or group of trends discussed in its own section. However, referencing is occasionally a bit vague, such as in the sentence 'the percentage of people eating fast food were 30% at the beginning', where the exact category being referred to could be linked more explicitly. Additionally, some transitions feel slightly mechanical. Overall, the organisation is logical and easy to follow, supporting a solid Band 7.0 for this criterion.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

Your vocabulary choice demonstrates an adequate range for this task, allowing you to discuss data trends effectively using words and phrases like 'consumption', 'proportion', 'increased substantially', 'declining', and 'remained stable'. You also attempt some less common lexical items. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'percentage of consumption of fast food' (consumption is a volume, not a percentage) and referencing 'the following year' instead of the correct interval (2006 to 2013). There is also a grammatical slip with subject-verb agreement regarding vocabulary usage ('people who consumed ... is largest'). These errors do not impede communication, but they prevent the response from reaching a higher band. This represents typical Band 6 performance.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating your ability to construct subordinate clauses and comparative structures, such as 'while people who consumed fast food once a week... is largest' and 'whereas the proportion consuming a few times a year rose...'. However, there are noticeable grammatical errors throughout the text. For instance, subject-verb agreement is flawed in 'people who consumed... is largest' (should be 'are') and 'the percentage of people eating fast food were' (should be 'was'). There is also a tense inconsistency and a minor error in 'people ate fast food' (should be 'eating' or 'who ate'). These errors occur frequently enough to prevent a Band 7, but communication is never impeded. Therefore, a band score of 6.0 is well-earned.

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

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