Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

The bar chart illustrates us about the rate of fast food eating at resturants among

individuals from 2003 to 2013 in USA.

The highest frequency was of consumers who ate once or twice a month in 2013 and was around 33 percent.Likewise,the percentage was same for individuals who ate once a weak in 2006.The frequency of people who ate daily was least in each year.The people who ate once a weak was around 31 percent in 2003 which was second highest.The consumers who ate a few times a year was same in year 2006 and 2013 around 15 percent.The rate of people who never ate at fast food resturants was extremely low around 5 percent in 2003 which declined in 2006 and remain constant till 2013 around 4%.The rate was 20% in 2006 for individuals who ate several times a week.The rate of people who ate every day and of those who ate never was almost same.

The rate was different for each type of individuals in each year but the lowest rate was of people who ate everday.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student attempts to address the task by reporting several data points from the chart, such as the peak in 2013 and various percentages across the years. However, the response falls short of a higher band because it lacks a clear, cohesive overview and fails to make meaningful comparisons between the categories. Instead, it reads as a disjointed list of isolated figures. There are also inaccuracies in data reporting; for instance, the highest percentage in 2013 was actually 'once a week' (28%) or 'once or twice a month' (33%), but the selection is generally attempting to cover the main trends. The lack of a clear summary statement at the beginning or end pulls the task achievement score down into the Band 5.5 range.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response suffers from severe paragraphing issues. The entire main body is crammed into a single block of text with inconsistent spacing and indentation, making it difficult to follow the logical progression of ideas. Although some cohesive devices are attempted, such as 'Likewise', referencing and linking are weak and mechanical. The information jumps arbitrarily between years and categories without a clear organizational plan. There is no introduction, body, and conclusion structure typical of an Academic Task 1 response. This level of organisation corresponds to Band 5.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is relatively basic and repetitive, relying heavily on terms provided in the prompt like 'rate', 'people', and 'fast food'. There are noticeable spelling errors, such as 'resturants' instead of 'restaurants' and 'everday' instead of 'every day', along with misspellings of words like 'weak' instead of 'week'. While the student attempts some less common phrasing, the limited range and frequent errors in word choice and spelling restrict the lexical score to Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student demonstrates a limited range of grammatical structures, relying mostly on simple sentences and basic relative clauses (e.g., 'who ate once or twice a month'). There are frequent errors in verb tenses and agreement, such as 'remain constant' instead of 'remained constant' and awkward phrasing like 'illustrates us about'. Punctuation is also poorly managed, with missing commas after introductory phrases and run-on sentences. Despite these frequent errors, communication is not entirely obscured, placing the performance firmly at Band 5.0.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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