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 was 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 7.0

The response successfully addresses the task by summarising the main features of the chart showing fast food consumption in the USA from 2003 to 2013. You clearly identify key trends, such as the popularity of eating fast food once a week or once/twice a month, and accurately contrast these with the lowest categories like daily consumption. While some data points could have been woven together more effectively into an overarching comparison, all necessary parts of the prompt are covered well, and data is used appropriately to support the main points. You have met the minimum word count requirement, allowing for a fully developed discussion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall progression, moving logically from an introduction to an overview, followed by specific body paragraphs detailing individual frequency categories. Paragraphing is used appropriately to group related ideas together. Cohesive devices are used reasonably well, such as 'Overall', 'However', and 'Notably', though there are some minor mechanical links and occasional slight confusion in referencing, such as 'in the following year' when the chart measures data across 2003, 2006, and 2013 rather than consecutive years. Overall, the information is arranged coherently and guides the reader smoothly through the data.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate and functional range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms such as 'consumption', 'proportion', 'substantially', and 'significantly'. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, though some phrasing is slightly awkward, such as 'the percentage of consumption of fast food on a daily basis was recorded' or the grammatical slip 'The proportions of people ate'. Word choices are generally appropriate and do not impede communication, but expanding your range of synonyms and collocations would elevate your score to a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including relative clauses and comparative constructions. There are several grammatical errors and awkward structures present, such as 'people who consumed fast food once a week and once or twice a month is largest' (subject-verb agreement error), 'in the following year' (misinterpreting the chart's timeline of 2003, 2006, and 2013), and 'The proportions of people ate' (incorrect verb form). However, these errors do not seriously impede communication, and you maintain good control over the majority of your simple sentences.

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

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