Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-03

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 following chart gives information of how frequently people ate in fast food restaurants between 2003 and 2013.

On the first glance, it can be seen that majority of the population consumed fast food once or twice a week while almost 5% of the populatopn ate fast food every day throughout the decade, while other 5% completely exculed fast food from their diet by never eating it, a percentage of around 15% ate fast food a few times a year throughout the years. The remaing percentage is of the people who enjoyed fast food several times a week.

Overall, it can be observed that the majority of population consumed fast food once or several times a week through the years. There were very few people which never ate fast food throughout the decade. The same goes for those who ate fast food regularly everyday.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

The response sits at this band because it only partially addresses the prompt. Crucially, the length requirement is NOT met, as the response contains 135 words and falls short of the 150-word minimum. Furthermore, the selection of main features is inadequate and inaccurate. The student misreports the data significantly, claiming that the majority of the population consumed fast food once or twice a week, whereas the chart shows that 'Once a week' and 'Once or twice a month' were the most frequent responses depending on the year, and fails to accurately reflect the actual percentages shown in the visual data. The overview is overly generalised and lacks precise data points. To reach a higher band, the writer must meet the minimum word count and report key trends and specific figures from the chart accurately without misrepresenting the proportions.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

Cohesion and logical progression are limited here. The response uses basic cohesive markers such as 'On the first glance', 'throughout the decade', and 'Overall', but referencing is sometimes unclear, such as 'while other 5%' and 'The remaing percentage'. Paragraphing is attempted, with a brief introductory sentence followed by a body paragraph and a concluding summary, but the body of the text feels cramped and poorly structured due to its brevity. The overall progression of ideas lacks clear signposting between categories. To achieve a higher band, the writer needs to organise information more logically into distinct body paragraphs and use a wider variety of cohesive devices more accurately and smoothly.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

Lexical resource is adequate for basic communication but contains several errors. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary, such as 'population', 'decade', and 'consumed', but struggles with spelling and word choice ('populatopn', 'exculed', 'remaing'). There are also awkward collocations and repetitive phrasing throughout the short text, such as repeating 'fast food restaurants' and 'throughout the decade'. To improve to a higher band, the student should expand their vocabulary range, ensure accurate spelling of common terms, and use precise vocabulary related to statistical trends and frequencies without relying heavily on repetitive phrasing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

Grammatical range and accuracy are limited by a narrow range of sentence structures and persistent errors. The writer attempts some complex sentences, such as 'On the first glance, it can be seen that majority of the population consumed...', but these often contain structural inaccuracies like missing articles ('the majority'). There are frequent errors in simple structures and agreement, such as 'There were very few people which never ate' (using 'which' for people) and punctuation lapses. To reach a higher band, the student needs to demonstrate a better control of complex grammatical structures, ensure correct relative pronoun usage, and reduce basic errors in articles and subject-verb agreement.

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.