Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-19
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 illustrates the frequency of the USA's people who eat at fast food restaurants between certain period of time such as 2003 to 2013.
Overall, people are avoiding to eat at fast food restaurants everyday. In addition to that, people who never eat outside also exists in USA . There has been no drastical changes noticed any of frequency.
Firstly, Majority people about more than 30% are prefer to have outside food once a week in 2006, which is equivalet to category who eat once or twice a month in 2013, which is the recorded in survey as highest percentage among all years. Secondly, people who eat a few times a year is almost same throught the years. Seveal times a week category finds a upward thread compare to 2003 but then it started failing by 2013. In 2003, People were started to like eat outside but by end of year, it notice they don't like the outside food
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response attempts to address the task by summarizing the main features of the bar chart regarding fast-food consumption in the USA from 2003 to 2013. However, the student struggles to accurately report and compare specific data points. For instance, the statement 'Majority people about more than 30% are prefer to have outside food once a week in 2006, which is equivalet to category who eat once or twice a month in 2013' contains convoluted and imprecise comparisons. While an overview is attempted, it is unclear and poorly formulated ('people are avoiding to eat at fast food restaurants everyday'). Several key categories and trends are misinterpreted or weakly developed. Consequently, this performance aligns with a Band 5 as it addresses the task only partially and contains inaccuracies in data reporting.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The organisation of the text is weak. Although the response is broken into paragraphs, the progression of ideas is frequently disjointed. Transitional phrases such as 'Firstly' and 'Secondly' are used, but they introduce confusing statements rather than a clear logical sequence. For example, the second body paragraph jumps awkwardly between years and categories without a clear underlying structure ('Seveal times a week category finds a upward thread compare to 2003 but then it started failing by 2013'). Furthermore, referencing is sometimes unclear, and the overall cohesion feels mechanical and faulty. This corresponds to a Band 5.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is very basic and often strained or inaccurate, which impedes communication in several places. Examples of awkward word choice and phrasing include 'people who never eat outside also exists in USA', 'drastical changes' instead of drastic changes, and 'started failing' instead of declining or decreasing. There are noticeable spelling and word-form errors, such as 'equivalet', 'throught', and 'Seveal'. The range of vocabulary is limited to simple terms, and attempts at less common words result in unnatural collocations. This performance fits the Band 5 descriptors.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The student uses a limited range of sentence structures, and attempts at complex sentences are frequently faulty. There are persistent grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('people who never eat outside also exists'), incorrect verb tenses ('People were started to like eat outside'), and faulty prepositional use ('avoiding to eat'). Punctuation is also sparse and sometimes incorrect. These errors cause frequent difficulty for the reader and mean that error-free sentences are rare. This level of control corresponds to a Band 4.5, which rounds to a Band 5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.