Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-30

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 how frequently American people ate fast food in restrauants between 2003 and 2013.

Overall, majority of Americans ate fast food once in a week or once or twice a month in all three years, while only a short proportion of Americans prefferd fast food in their everyday meal in 2003, 2006 and 2013.

Roughly 5% of people ate fast foods every day in 2003, where the ratio was decreased in the next two years, around 3% in both 2006 and 2013. Nearly 17% of prople ate junk foods several times a week in 2003, and the figure showed a fluctuation in the next two years, 20% in 2006 and just over 15% in 2013. Over 30% of individuals preffered junk foods once a week in 2003, the figure surged to around 33% in 2006, and the figure declined to around 27% in 2013.

The proportions for Americans who ate fast foods once or twice a moth were at 30%, 25% and around 33% in 2003, 2006 and 2013 respectively. Nearly 13% of people ate fast foods a few times a year in 2003, the ratio was at 15% for the next two years. Only 5% of people never ate fast foods in 2003, and the ratio was at nearly 4% for the next two years.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The student covers all parts of the task well, providing an adequate overview and reporting the main trends and data points across the years. The selection of data is generally accurate, noting that eating fast food once a week or monthly were the most common frequencies. However, there are a few minor inaccuracies when reporting specific figures; for instance, the text states 'Roughly 5% of people ate fast foods every day in 2003', whereas the chart shows 4%, and 'Nearly 13% of people ate fast foods a few times a year in 2003' instead of 12.5%. Despite these minor discrepancies, the overall response addresses the prompt fully and makes relevant comparisons across the three years.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response is organized into four logical paragraphs: an introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs detailing the categories. There is a clear logical progression throughout the text. Cohesive devices are used adequately to connect ideas, such as 'Overall', 'while', and 'respectively'. However, there is some repetitive use of transitional phrasing ('in 2003, 2006 and 2013' or 'the figure...'), and paragraphing could be structured slightly better to group the frequencies more effectively. Overall, the arrangement is coherent and easy to follow, satisfying the requirements for a Band 7 score.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common phrases such as 'proportion', 'fluctuation', 'declined', and 'surged'. However, there are several spelling and word-choice errors, including 'restrauants' instead of 'restaurants', 'prefferd' instead of 'preferred', 'prople' instead of 'people', and 'moth' instead of 'month'. Furthermore, the phrase 'junk foods' is used interchangeably with 'fast food', which is acceptable contextually but slightly informal. These lexical slips and spelling errors occasionally draw attention, placing the response solidly in the Band 6 category.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as introductory dependent clauses ('while only a short proportion...'). There is good control over basic grammatical structures, and meaning is rarely obscured. However, there are noticeable grammatical errors and awkward phrasing, such as 'once in a week' instead of 'once a week' and 'the ratio was decreased' instead of 'the figure decreased' (passive voice misuse on an intransitive verb). Punctuation is generally correct, but the presence of these recurring grammatical slips prevents the score from reaching Band 7.

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

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