Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-05

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 United States of America has everything you need. A great lifestyle, accessibility and everything you could ever wish for. With a fast moving life, having an adequate nutrition is also a must to fuel yourself. In the olden days , it was preferred to make your own meals as it was simpler and cost efficient but also very time consuming hence the fast food culture began. According to the graph in the year 2003 it depicts that people preferred eating out once in a week rather than on a daily basis and similar sightings are seen in the year 2006. But as the awareness of health grew among the people and the cooking conditions in fast food places came into the light, we can observe that the rates of eating every week significantly dropped and people started eating eating out once in a month at the most. Thereby I'd like to conclude by telling that fast food is an efficient option once in a while but it should be used judiciously.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

The response addresses the task only partially, falling short of a fully developed overview and accurate data reporting. Instead of focusing directly on the chart data from the start, the writer spends a significant portion of the introduction on irrelevant background information about lifestyle and fast food culture generally. While the writer attempts to mention some figures, such as eating out once a week in 2003 and 2006, the overall reporting of data is vague and inaccurate in places, such as claiming people started eating out once a month at the most by 2013, whereas the chart shows 'once or twice a month' at 33% and 'once a week' still at 28%. To reach a higher level, the writer needs to present a clear overview of the main trends right at the beginning and accurately select and compare specific data points from the chart without including extraneous personal commentary or moral conclusions.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

The response shows some organisation, but it lacks clear overall progression and proper paragraphing. The entire text is compressed into a single, long paragraph that blends background, body details, and a concluding personal opinion, making it difficult to follow the logical flow. While some basic cohesive devices are used, such as 'According to the graph' and 'thereby', referencing is sometimes unclear, and the transitions between sentences feel abrupt rather than smoothly sequenced. To improve in this area, the writer must divide the essay into logical paragraphs—separating the introduction, overview, and body details—and use a wider range of cohesive devices more accurately to guide the reader through the comparisons.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, providing a minimally sufficient range to convey basic ideas, but it contains noticeable errors and awkward phrasings that reflect a lower level. Examples include 'having an adequate nutrition', 'similar sightings are seen', and 'eating eating out'. The writer attempts some less common expressions, such as 'cost efficient', 'judiciously', and 'significantly dropped', but word choice and collocation are not always precise. To achieve a higher band, the writer should refine word forms, eliminate repetitions, and employ a more precise, academic vocabulary suited to reporting statistical data without relying on conversational or informal phrasing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The response displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating reasonable control over basic structures. There are several good attempts at complex sentences, such as 'According to the graph in the year 2003 it depicts that people preferred...'. However, some grammatical errors and punctuation issues persist, including missing articles ('having an adequate nutrition'), awkward phrasing in relative clauses, and comma splices or missing commas. Despite these errors, they rarely impede overall communication. To move further up, the writer needs to increase the proportion of error-free complex sentences and ensure tighter grammatical control over articles, prepositions, and clause structures.

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