Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-11

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 5.5)

The bar graph conveys the repetition rate of citizens eating at junk food restaurants in the USA from 2003 to 2013.

From an overall perspective, it can clearly be seen that people mostly prefered to have fast food at restaurants once a week also once or twice a month and fewest person liked to go out for having fast food everyday.

Less than 5% individuals went out everyday for food in each of the three years which is also the least portion compared with other categories. Frequency of people eating at restaurants is respectively about 16% in 2013 about 17% in 2003 and 20% in 2006. Citizens of usa being repetive to restaurants once a week and once or twice a month holds the highest rate which are respectively more than 30% and exactly 30% in 2003 and , about 33% and 25% in 2006 and above 25% and approximatey 33% in 2013.

Individuals going to restaurants a few times a year is less than 15% in 2003 and exact 15% in both 2006 and 2013. The amont of people who never went out for having food is less than 5% in each of the three years.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main pattern: weekly and monthly visits account for the largest shares, while daily visits and never eating fast food are the smallest categories. Most reported figures are consistent with the chart, including the rise in monthly visits to about 33% in 2013 and the 2006 peak of roughly 33% for weekly visits. You also cover the less frequent categories. However, the overview could be more precise: weekly visits were highest in 2003 and 2006, but monthly visits became the leading category in 2013. The phrase “people mostly preferred” blurs this change, and the comparison of the two leading categories is difficult to follow. State the changing leaders clearly and summarise the main shifts across the period.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, moving from an introduction to an overview and then to details about the frequency categories. This gives the reader a basic route through the information. However, progression within the main paragraph is uneven: the sentence beginning “Citizens of usa being repetive…” combines several categories and years in a way that is hard to track. Linking words such as “also” and “which” do not always make the relationships between figures clear, and the final paragraph lists two minor categories without connecting them to the overall pattern. Use separate, logically grouped comparisons—for example, one sentence for weekly versus monthly visits and another for the less frequent categories—and make references explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for describing a chart, including “frequency,” “portion,” “category,” and “rate,” and the meaning is generally understandable. There are also attempts at paraphrase, such as “repetition rate” and “individuals.” However, several choices are inaccurate or unnatural for this task: “repetition rate” does not naturally describe how often people visit, “citizens” is less suitable than “people,” and “went out for having fast food” is awkward. Spelling and word-form errors, including “prefered,” “repetive,” “approximatey,” and “amont,” also reduce precision. Build a more reliable set of chart collocations, such as “the proportion of people who ate out” and “visited once a week,” and check spelling carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple statements and longer comparative sentences, and the main information can usually be understood. Some grammatical errors remain, particularly in sentence construction and agreement. For example, “people mostly prefered to have fast food … once a week also once or twice a month” needs a clearer coordinated structure, while “holds the highest rate which are respectively” has an unclear subject and mismatched verb. The sentence listing figures across all three years is also difficult to parse because several comparisons are joined together. There are some issues with articles, punctuation, and sentence boundaries, such as the comma before “about 33%” in the long comparison. Use shorter, controlled sentences and check that each subject agrees with its verb.

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