Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-22

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 5.5)

The chart illustrates, how often people in USA eat in fast food restaurants in between 2003 and 2013.

Overall, graph clearly shows that, eating fast food at restaurant , once a week or once or twice a month had the highest percentage of people in USA. Additionally, every day, several times a week and never, contain least percentage.

Firstly, In 2003, many people prefer eating food in restaurants, as once a week and once or twice a month contain 32 and 30% respectively, followed by, several times a week, a few times a week and never represents 17%, 13% and 5% respectively.

Secondly, in 2006, consuming food at restaurants; once a week had highest proportion with 33%, whereas once or twice a month had second highest, accounting for 25%, while never and everyday with least numbers.

At last, in 2013, once or twice a month has largest percentage with 33%, meanwhile, once a week accounted for 27%, while, never and everyday accounting under 5%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student successfully covers all parts of the task by identifying the main trends and reporting key data points across the three years given (2003, 2006, and 2013). An overview is provided at the beginning, noting that 'once a week' and 'once or twice a month' were the most frequent categories. However, there are some minor data inaccuracies and omissions; for instance, the student states that in 2003 'a few times a week' (which is actually 'a few times a year') represented 13%, and some comparisons lack precision. Despite these minor misreadings of the chart, all categories are addressed and the main features are sufficiently reported to meet the criteria for a band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is arranged coherently with a clear overall structure, including a brief introduction, an overview paragraph, and three body paragraphs corresponding to each year. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the time periods. However, cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or awkwardly deployed, such as the chronological transition markers ('Firstly', 'Secondly', 'At last'). Referencing and transitions between sentences can occasionally be repetitive or abrupt. While the logical progression is clear overall, the mechanical nature of the linking words and occasional clunky phrasing prevent the response from achieving a higher score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, successfully using terms such as 'proportion', 'percentage', and 'highest'. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, though these are sometimes accompanied by inaccuracies or awkward collocations, such as 'contain least percentage' instead of 'accounted for the lowest percentages' or 'consuming food at restaurants'. Spelling is generally accurate, but word choice and phrasing are sometimes unnatural. The lexical range is sufficient to convey the main points, but errors in word formation and collocation keep this criterion at a band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and introductory phrases. However, grammatical control is inconsistent. There are frequent punctuation and comma errors that disrupt the flow of sentences, such as unnecessary commas splitting subject and verb ('The chart illustrates, how often...'). Additionally, there are tense and preposition inconsistencies, such as 'in between 2003 and 2013' and mixing present and past tenses inappropriately when describing historical data ('contain 32 and 30% respectively'). These errors occasionally cause minor readability issues, placing the performance solidly at a band 5.5.

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