Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

The bar graph illustrates the frequency with which people residing in USA ate in fast food outlets from 2003 to 2013. Overall, it is evident from the graph that in all three years a higher proportion of U.S. residents ate in fast food restaurants either once a week or once in a month. In contrast, only a minor proportion of US residents ate there daily or never ate there.

To begin with, in the year 2003 32% of the residents ate once a week in fast food restaurants. followed by only 30% of the residents living there ate once or twice a month. In addition, only 17% of the residents ate several times a week in a fast food restaurant. On the other hand, 5% of the population never ate in fast food restaurants while 4% of its residents ate daily. However, in the year 2006 a substantial increase in the proportion of residents who ate at a fast food restaurant Several times a week or once in a

week can be observed. With an average of 20% and 33% respectively. Meanwhile the percentage of people who ate at a fast food restaurant slightly rose to 15% in 2006. However, the percentage of these who ate once or twice a month dropped to 25%.

Moving on, by the year 2013 the proportion of

people who ate at a fast food restaurant

once or twice a month was significantly higher

accounting for almost 33%. While the percentage

of people who ate once a week dropped to 27%followed by the percentage of people who ate several times a week or every day accounted for 16% and 3% respectively. In addition , the proportion of residents who ate a few times a year and who never ate all remained steady at 15% and 4% respectively.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The student covers all parts of the task well, providing a clear overview and reporting the main trends and data points across the three years. The overview successfully identifies that eating once a week or once/twice a month were the most common frequencies, while daily and never eating were the least common. Data points are generally accurate, such as noting that 33% ate once a week in 2006 and 33% ate once or twice a month in 2013. However, there are minor transcription inaccuracies, such as stating that 32% ate once a week in 2003 (where the chart indicates around 31%) and minor punctuation or sentence-structure fragmentation in the body paragraphs. Overall, the information is selected and reported effectively to satisfy the requirements of Task 1.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response is logically organized with a clear overall progression from the introduction to the body paragraphs detailing different years. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction, the 2003/2006 data, and the 2013 data. Cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'To begin with', 'On the other hand', and 'Moving on' are employed to guide the reader through the text, although some cohesive links are slightly mechanical or disjointed due to punctuation errors (e.g., hanging modifiers or fragmented clauses like 'With an average of 20% and 33% respectively'). Referencing is generally clear, though occasional awkward phrasing affects the flow of ideas.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate and generally appropriate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms such as 'proportion', 'substantial increase', and 'remain steady'. Less common lexical items are attempted, though with some minor inaccuracies in word choice and collocation (e.g., 'ate once in a month' instead of 'once a month', or 'the percentage of these who ate'). Spelling is generally accurate, and vocabulary choices do not impede communication, allowing the reader to easily follow the statistical comparisons.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The student exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and introductory prepositional phrases. There are, however, several grammatical errors and punctuation slips throughout the response. Examples include sentence fragments ('With an average of 20% and 33% respectively.'), missing articles ('residing in USA' instead of 'in the USA'), and awkward structural coupling (e.g., 'followed by only 30% of the residents living there ate...'). While these errors do not impede overall communication and the majority of simple sentences are clear, the frequency of structural slips prevents a higher band score.

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