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 bar chart comapres the frequency of eating street food in the USA in three years.

Overall, Eating fast food once a week and once or twice in a month was the most popular behaviour in this period. only a small property of people ate fast food and never visited restaurants.

In 2003, almost 32% people went outside to eat fastfood whereas 35% in 2006 and 27% in 2013 people were visited restaurants once a week. In addition, 30% people were visited once or twice in a month in 2003 while in 2007 only 25 % visited restaurants likewise in 2013 almost 33% people were visited restaurants to eat fast food.

In contrast, Regarding more frequent visits, approximately 17% of Americans ate fast food several times a week in 2003, compared with 20% in 2006 and 16% in 2013. Only around 3–4% ate fast food every day or never did so. Finally, the percentage of people eating fast food a few times a year remained relatively stable at approximately 12–15%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the task partially, attempting to present an overview and select main features from the bar chart. However, there are notable limitations and inaccuracies in reporting the data. For instance, the prompt refers to eating in fast food restaurants, but the student misinterprets this as eating 'street food'. Furthermore, some of the specific figures cited are inaccurate compared to the actual chart data, such as claiming '35% in 2006 and 27% in 2013 people were visited restaurants once a week' when the values were roughly 33% and 28% respectively. The overview is also rather simplistic and contains awkward phrasing such as 'only a small property of people'. To move to a higher level, the response needs to accurately report key trends and figures without factual discrepancies, provide a clearer overall summary, and maintain consistency throughout the data comparison.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The text shows some overall organisation with paragraphs dedicated to different frequencies, but there is no clear and logical progression throughout. While basic cohesive devices like 'In addition' and 'In contrast' are used, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For example, sentences in the body paragraphs feel disjointed, and the transitional flow is occasionally interrupted by clumsy phrasing or abrupt shifts between years. Paragraphing is attempted, but internal cohesion needs significant improvement. To achieve a higher score, the student should ensure a smoother flow of ideas from sentences to paragraphs, employ a wider and more natural range of cohesive devices, and establish a clear logical progression that guides the reader seamlessly through the data.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited and barely adequate for the task. The student attempts some less common vocabulary and numerical descriptions, but this is accompanied by noticeable errors in word choice and spelling that affect precision. For example, 'comapres' contains a spelling error, 'property' is misused instead of 'proportion', and the fundamental subject is misidentified as 'street food' instead of fast food restaurants. There are also awkward collocations and word forms, such as 'people were visited restaurants'. To reach the next band, the student must expand their lexical repertoire, use words with greater accuracy regarding collocations and context, and eliminate basic spelling and word-choice errors that detract from the quality of the writing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The grammatical structures attempted include a mix of simple and complex forms, but control is inconsistent, resulting in frequent errors that can cause difficulty for the reader. There are persistent issues with verb forms, passive/active voice confusion, and extra unnecessary words, as seen in expressions like 'people were visited restaurants' and 'once or twice in a month'. Prepositional usage and article omission also require attention. While the meaning is generally decipherable, these frequent grammatical slips prevent the response from achieving a higher rating. To improve, the student needs to demonstrate better control over complex sentence patterns, ensure correct tense and voice consistency, and eliminate recurring structural inaccuracies.

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

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