Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

The bar chart illustrates the proportion of people ate in fast food restaurants in USA from 2003 to 2013.

Overall, people was eating fast food once a week and once or twice a month accounted for the highest share over the period. In contrast, every day and never represented the lowest percentage throughout the time frame.

In 2003, people who was eating fast food every day at 4%, and 3% in both 2006 and 2013. Followed closely by people who never ate 5% in 2003, and 4% by 2006 and 2013. While

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

The response identifies the chart’s subject and gives a broad overview, noting that weekly and monthly dining were the most common patterns, while daily eating and never eating were least common. However, the report is only a partial response: it stops before describing the main changes in the more significant categories, such as the rise in monthly visits from 30% to 33% and the fall in weekly visits from 31% to 28%. Some figures are also inaccurate: “never ate 5%” in 2003 is closer to 4.5%, and the later figures are about 3.5%, not 4%. The response is 92 words, below the required 150, and the unfinished final “While” leaves the report incomplete. Include the key trends and comparisons before concluding.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

There is a basic attempt to organise the response: an introduction is followed by an overview and then a paragraph beginning with specific figures. The overview also groups the most and least common frequencies, which gives the reader a starting point. However, the progression is not sustained because the report ends mid-sentence at “While” and does not cover the remaining categories or develop comparisons. The transition “Followed closely by” is a fragment rather than a complete sentence, and “In contrast” does not fully clarify the relationship between the categories. To improve, use complete sentences and organise the data into clear comparisons, for example, frequent visits versus occasional or no visits, with linking phrases that show changes across the years.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary is sufficient to identify the chart and its subject, with relevant terms such as “proportion,” “highest share,” “lowest percentage,” and “time frame.” These choices show some awareness of the language needed for describing data. However, the range is limited, and several phrases are awkward or imprecise, including “people was eating” and “people who never ate 5%.” The latter also makes the data relationship unclear: it should describe the percentage of people who never ate at fast-food restaurants. Use a wider set of accurate reporting expressions, such as “accounted for,” “stood at,” and “declined,” while keeping the wording concise and natural. This would make the comparisons clearer and reduce repetition of “people.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple statements and a more complex contrast, as in “In contrast, every day and never represented the lowest percentage.” However, grammatical errors occur in the main clauses and make some information difficult to follow. In “The bar chart illustrates the proportion of people ate,” the verb pattern is incomplete; use “the proportion of people who ate.” Subject–verb agreement is incorrect in “people was eating,” and the sentence “people who was eating fast food every day at 4%” lacks a main verb such as “accounted for.” “Followed closely by…” is also a sentence fragment, and the final “While” clause is unfinished. Practise complete data-reporting sentences and check agreement, verb forms, and sentence boundaries.

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