Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-02

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 chart depicts the percentages of people from the USA, and their obsession with fast food restaurants between 2003 and 2013.

Overall, it is clear that the number of people who consumed the junk food everday were lower, while individual who often eat food outside were stayed at the highest in the ending of this period.

Firstly, in 2003 the number of people who consumed fast food daily were stayed at a mere 4%, followed by 5% individuals who never visited fast-food outlet. Furthermore, several times a week visitors were around 17%, while others who visited once a week remained the highest of 31%, followed by 30% consumers who went only once or twice in a month. Furthermore, 13% people only went few times a year.

In constrast, while the data of frequent

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

The response only minimally addresses the task requirements and is incomplete, as it breaks off abruptly mid-sentence in the second body paragraph. In addition, the length requirement is not met, falling short of the 150-word minimum at 133 words. The student attempts to report some main features and comparisons, such as mentioning the daily consumption figures and the highest category in 2003, but the selection of data is restricted and lacks a fully developed overview. To reach a higher level, the writer would need to complete the response, present a clear and comprehensive overview of main trends across all years, and fully develop comparisons with accurate supporting data.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

The text demonstrates some basic organisational structure with an introductory sentence, an overview attempt, and paragraph breaks. However, there is no clear overall progression or logical conclusion due to the incomplete nature of the writing. Cohesive devices are minimal and basic, relying on repetitive transitional markers such as 'Firstly' and 'Furthermore'. Referencing is sometimes unclear, and the abrupt ending prevents any sense of logical flow across the essay. To improve coherence and cohesion, the writer should ensure the text is fully written out, use a wider variety of cohesive links naturally, and organise ideas into a logical sequence with a proper concluding summary.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for conveying basic ideas about the chart, but it is limited and repetitive. The student attempts some less common phrasing, such as 'obsession' and 'fast-food outlet', though 'obsession' is somewhat imprecise for describing consumption frequencies. There are noticeable lexical and collocation errors, such as 'junk food everday were lower' and 'went few times a year', which slightly strain the reader. To achieve a higher band, the writer needs to expand their lexical range with more precise academic vocabulary and collocation, while eliminating word choice and spelling errors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writing shows a very limited range of sentence structures, relying mostly on simple or faulty complex constructions. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('number of people... were stayed', 'individual who often eat... were stayed'), incorrect preposition usage ('in a month'), and missing articles. These errors can cause some difficulty for the reader. To improve, the student should focus on basic grammatical accuracy, particularly subject-verb agreement and verb tense consistency, while aiming to incorporate a wider and more accurate variety of complex sentence structures.

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