Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-26

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 bar chart illustrates the frequency of consuming the fast food restaurants among the USA's citizens in 2003, 2006 and 2013.

Overall, It is noticed that the most proportion of people consumed food once a week in 2006 and the population eating once or more times a month were in 2013. A very few percentage of people consumed fast food every day and also entirely avoided it.

firstly, majority of the people ate once a week in 2006 listed at around 33%. Very few individuals as low as 3% visited restaurants in the same year. A drastic hike can be observed when it comes to eating several times a week with 20% in 2006. compared to 2006, the people used to visit restaurants everyday at around 4% in 2003.

Secondly in 2013, it remains same as 2006 when it comes to everyday consumption and never eating it at 3% and 4% respectively. Most of the people as high as 33% preferred eating outside a couple of times in a month in 2013. Only 15% of the people chose to eat a few times a year.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student covers the main features of the chart across the given years, attempting to report specific data points such as the 33% peak in 2006 and 2013, as well as general trends like daily consumption and avoidance rates. However, the task achievement is hindered by inaccuracies in data interpretation. For instance, the student states that the population eating once or more times a month was highest in 2013, which is confusingly phrased, and misinterprets some proportions. Furthermore, the selection of data lacks a fully cohesive overview of all categories, jumping between years without a clear structural comparison. To achieve a higher band, the writer should ensure data is cited with greater precision and provide a more robust overview statement identifying the most significant trends.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response is organised into paragraphs, beginning with an introduction followed by body paragraphs. However, the logical progression is weak. The student uses unconventional and inappropriate cohesive markers such as 'firstly' and 'Secondly in 2013' in a way that disrupts the flow of an Academic Task 1 report. Referencing within and between sentences is sometimes unclear, for example in sentences like 'the population eating once or more times a month were in 2013'. Paragraphing is attempted, but internal cohesion feels mechanical rather than natural. To improve, the student needs to use standard academic transition phrases and ensure that ideas are linked smoothly without abrupt shifts in focus.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student displays an adequate vocabulary range to describe basic chart features, using terms such as 'proportion', 'consumption', and 'drastic hike'. However, there are noticeable lexical inaccuracies and awkward word choices, such as 'consuming the fast food restaurants' instead of 'consuming fast food at restaurants', 'most proportion' instead of 'largest proportion', and 'a very few percentage' instead of 'a very small percentage'. Less common lexical items are attempted but not always used with accurate collocation or style. Spelling is generally acceptable, but vocabulary control remains limited to a Band 6 level due to these recurring collocation and phrasing errors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as 'The bar chart illustrates the frequency of consuming...' and 'A drastic hike can be observed when it comes to eating...'. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are errors with articles ('the most proportion', 'a very few percentage'), subject-verb agreement ('the population... were'), and prepositional use. Punctuation is basic, and some sentences are awkwardly constructed, such as 'the people used to visit restaurants everyday at around 4% in 2003'. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the response from reaching Band 6.5 or 7.

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.