Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-27

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 6.0)

The bar chart illustrates the percentage of people who ate in processed food restaurants in the USA in 2003, 2006, and 2013. Overall, eating fast food once a week and once or twice a month recorded higher percentages in every year, while the proportion of people who ate processed food every day or never were consistently low throughout the period. The figures for several times a week and a few times a year were relatively the same.

Eating fast food once a week and once or twice a month were consistently higher. In 2003, the figure for once a week was just over 30%, increasing slightly to about 33% after three years, but by 2013, the percentage of people had fallen to around 27%. Similarly, visiting fast food restaurants one or two times per month accounted for 30% in 2003, declining by 5% in 2006 than reached a peake of approximately 33% by the end of the period.

In contrast, eating every day and never in fast food restaurants recoreded the lowest percentages in every year, the figure for every day was just under 5% in every year and this pattern also found in never ate categories, which it was consistently under 5%. Looking at the remained two categories, eating several times a week fluctuated between about 16% and 20%, while those who ate a few times a year varied from around 12% to 15%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The candidate successfully covers all parts of the task by reporting the main features of the chart and making appropriate comparisons across the years 2003, 2006, and 2013. An overview is provided in the first paragraph, identifying the dominant and lowest categories. Key data points, such as the peak for once-a-week and once-or-twice-a-month diners, are accurately referenced. However, there are minor lexical inaccuracies in task interpretation, such as referring to 'fast food restaurants' as 'processed food restaurants', and a few minor data readings could be slightly more precise. Nevertheless, the response clearly fulfills the requirements of Task Achievement at a Band 6.5 to 7.0 level, displaying clear trends and supporting figures.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response is organized into logical paragraphs, with an introduction containing an overview, a body paragraph focusing on the top categories, and a final paragraph addressing the lower and remaining frequencies. Cohesive devices are used adequately to guide the reader through the comparisons, such as 'In contrast', 'Looking at', and 'Similarly'. However, some referencing is slightly clumsy, and mechanical transitions appear at times, such as 'which it was consistently under 5%'. Paragraphing is handled well, ensuring a coherent overall arrangement that meets the criteria for Band 6.5.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The candidate demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common phrases such as 'accounted for', 'declining by 5%', and 'fluctuated between'. However, there are several lexical errors and awkward collocations, such as 'reached a peake' (spelling error), 'recoreded' (spelling error), 'the remained two categories' (grammatical/lexical slip for 'remaining'), and referring to 'fast food' as 'processed food' throughout. While these errors do not impede communication, they prevent the lexical score from reaching the higher bands. The vocabulary is minimally sufficient and appropriate in most contexts.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating clauses of comparison and time. There are several grammatical errors and punctuation slips throughout the text, including comma splices ('In 2003, the figure for once a week was just over 30%, increasing slightly to about 33% after three years, but by 2013...'), spelling mistakes ('peake', 'recoreded'), and a run-on structure in the final paragraph ('...every year, the figure for every day was just under 5% in every year and this pattern also found in never ate categories, which it was consistently under 5%'). Despite these frequent minor errors, the meaning remains clear, supporting a Band 6.0 score.

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

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