Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-10

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 4.0)

in this chart people ate fast food in restautrants between 2003 and 2013. every day people ate less fast food 5% decrease while once a week ate fast food in 2003 approximately 30% and 2006 ate fast food approximately 33% and 2013 percentage decrease 28%. percentage is by zero to hundred . comparison among 2003 and 2006 and 2013 every day ate fast food is less but total cout the week the average is high. the graph show the ate fast food in 2003 and 2013. every day and never the same percentage is less than 5%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.5

You identify the chart’s topic and report some relevant figures, including the weekly-eating values of about 31%, 33% and 28%. You also note that daily eating and never eating were both low. However, the response gives only a narrow and sometimes unclear account of the data: “5% decrease” for daily eating is inaccurate, since the figure falls from 4% to 3%, and the chart does not show a general percentage scale “by zero to hundred.” Important categories such as monthly eating and several times a year are omitted, and there is no clear overview of the main pattern. The response is also 53 words below the required minimum. Include a concise overview and compare the main categories accurately.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 3.5

There is a basic attempt to organise the response around the chart and to compare years, using phrases such as “while” and “comparison among 2003 and 2006 and 2013.” However, the ideas do not progress in a clear sequence: the response moves from daily eating to weekly figures, then to a vague statement about “the week,” and finally repeats that the graph shows 2003 and 2013. Connections between claims are often unclear, and there is no paragraphing to distinguish an overview from supporting details. Group the information logically—for example, give the overall pattern first, then compare the most and least frequent categories—and use clear linking phrases to show changes over time.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

The response uses a small set of relevant chart terms, including “percentage,” “approximately,” “decrease” and “comparison,” so the topic is generally recognisable. However, vocabulary is repetitive and several phrases are imprecise or awkward, such as “total cout the week the average is high” and “the graph show the ate fast food.” There are also spelling errors, including “restautrants” and “cout,” which reduce clarity. Use accurate category labels and reporting language rather than repeating “ate fast food”; for example, describe the proportion who “ate at fast-food restaurants once a week” or say it “rose” and “fell.” This would make the limited range more precise and appropriate for a chart summary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

You attempt to report figures in simple sentences, and the reader can identify some intended comparisons. However, sentence structures are often incomplete or joined without clear grammatical relationships, as in “every day people ate less fast food 5% decrease” and “2013 percentage decrease 28%.” Subject–verb agreement is also inconsistent in “the graph show,” and articles and sentence boundaries are frequently missing. These errors make several statements difficult to interpret, although the basic topic remains apparent. Build complete sentences with a subject and verb, such as “The proportion eating fast food every day fell from 4% to 3%,” and use full stops to separate comparisons. Practising accurate simple sentences before adding more complex structures will improve control.

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