Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)
The line graph illustrates the proportion of people visiting fast food restaurants in the USA from 2003 to 2013.
Overall, the highest proportation of consuming fast food was noted in 2013 where people used to visit once or twice a month, while the highest proportion to eating fast food ina restaurants, once a week was noted in 2006. Everday consumption of fast food remained contant in the year 2006 and 2013, accounting same for those who has never visited fast food restaurants.
In detail, once a week and once or twice a month shared the highest proportion of eating fast food in 2006 and 2013, at approximately 33% each. Likewise, both the categories had the second highest proportion roughly around 31% foe once a week in 2006 and 30% for once or twice a month in 2013.
The proportion of people dinned everyday was constant around 3% in the year 2006 and 2013, while the proportion of people who never visited were also constant around 4% each in 2006and 2013.
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 student attempts to address the task by summarizing the provided chart, but there is a major visual misinterpretation: the response states 'The line graph illustrates' when the source material is a bar chart depicting frequency categories across three specific years (2003, 2006, and 2013). While some main features and comparisons are attempted (such as identifying popular frequencies like once a week and once or twice a month), the reporting of data contains inaccuracies and confusion regarding the years and percentages. For instance, the highest proportion in 2013 was once or twice a month (33%), but the text struggles to clearly contrast the timeline. Because of the chart type misidentification and inaccurate reporting of details, the task is addressed only partially, matching Band 5.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The essay is organized into an introduction and three body paragraphs, attempting a logical structure. However, paragraphing and referencing are sometimes faulty. The progression of ideas is hindered by abrupt transitions and repetitive phrasing, such as starting paragraphs with 'In detail' and repeatedly referring to constants in 2006 and 2013. Cohesive devices are used mechanically ('Likewise', 'In detail'), and referencing is occasionally unclear or inaccurate regarding which year a statistic belongs to. Overall, there is some organization, but the lack of clear overall progression places this in Band 5.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is relatively basic and repetitive, with several spelling errors ('proportation' instead of proportion, 'ina' instead of in, 'Everday', 'contant', 'dinned'). There are also awkward word choices and collocations, such as 'highest proportion to eating fast food ina restaurants'. While there are attempts at less common vocabulary ('proportion', 'consumption', 'approximately'), the persistent errors in spelling and word choice cause some difficulty for the reader and restrict the score to Band 5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over grammar and punctuation is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in verb forms, prepositions, and sentence structure, such as 'where people used to visit once or twice a month' and 'accounting same for those who has never visited'. Punctuation and spacing issues are also present (e.g., '2006and'). These frequent errors can cause difficulty for the reader, aligning the response with Band 5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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