Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-18

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 5.0)

The bar chart depicts the consumption of fast food at restaurants in USA which is mostly eaten by

public from 2003 to 2013.

Overall, it can be clearly seen that majority of the people eat fast food once a week and once or twice in a month.

Every day usage of fast food items was about 4% in 2003 which decreased to 3% in 2006 and 2103. Next the persentage of population who consume fast food product was around 16% in 2003 whic h increased to 20% in 2006 and 2013 at was almost 15%.The ratio once a week was over 30% in 2003 which grew to 34% in 2006 and declined to about 30% in 2013.Once or twice share was 30% in 2003 which went down in 2006 and again went up to over 34% in 2013. Afew time a year proportion were 12% in 2003 which rose to 15% and remain same till 2013.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The student attempts to address the prompt by reporting several data points from the bar chart, such as the percentages for daily consumption and those eating fast food once a week. An overview is present at the beginning, noting the most frequent categories. However, there are significant issues with data accuracy and misinterpretation of the visual information. For instance, the student writes '2103' instead of '2013', and several quoted figures diverge notably from the actual chart data (e.g., stating the percentage for several times a week in 2013 was 'at was almost 15%' when the chart shows 16%, and misreporting the trends for once or twice a month). Furthermore, the body paragraph lacks clear grouping and reads like a disjointed list of statistics. Because of the inaccuracies in reporting data and under-developed comparisons, this falls under Band 5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The response is structured into an introductory sentence, an overview, and a single dense body paragraph. The lack of proper paragraphing for the body data makes the text difficult to follow. Cohesive devices are minimal or mechanically applied, such as 'Next the persentage...', 'The ratio...', and 'Afew time a year...'. There is a lack of smooth progression between ideas, and the referencing is sometimes unclear, requiring the reader to work harder to follow the intended comparisons. Overall, the organizational structure is basic and lacks clear logical segmentation of the data categories. This warrants a Band 5.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates a limited but minimally adequate range of vocabulary relevant to the topic, using terms such as 'consumption', 'fast food', 'population', and 'proportion'. However, there are numerous spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'persentage', 'whic h', 'Afew time', and 'remain same' (instead of remained the same). The misuse of phrases like 'Every day usage' instead of daily consumption also limits precision. While the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the general subject matter, the noticeable errors and lack of sophisticated lexical control place this at Band 5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but control is inconsistent. There are several grammatical errors and awkward phrasings, such as 'fast food at restaurants in USA which is mostly eaten by public' (awkward passive/relative clause), 'at was almost 15%' (lexical/grammatical slip), and missing articles ('in USA'). Punctuation and spacing errors also appear, such as 'whic h' and missing spaces after periods. Although simple sentences are generally understandable, the frequency of errors in complex structures and mechanics causes some difficulty for the reader, aligning with Band 5 descriptors.

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

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