Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

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

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 chat illustrates how often individuals in the USA ate in fast food hotels in 2003,2006 and 2013.

Overall, fast food the lowest frequencies in all three years was never and every day while, the highest was once a week and once or twice in a month. The values have small difference in percentages in all three years in each frequency.

The year that has the most number of people who eat fast food everyday is 2003 at slightly under 5% but it also has the highest number of those who do not at 5%. 2013 has the highest number of those who eat once or twice in a month at just under 35%. Similarly, 2006 led at over 30% of individuals eating once a week.

2003 had almost 15% of people eating at a fast food restaurant which was the least. Also, 2013 had just over 15% of people eating which was the lowest frequency. Moreover, 2006 had the least number of people eating once or twice a month out of the three.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

The response identifies the chart’s subject and makes an attempt at an overview, noting that daily eating and never eating were the least common categories, while weekly and monthly eating were more common. It also correctly highlights 2013 as the peak for monthly visits and 2006 for weekly visits. However, the overview is unclear and some comparisons are inaccurate: the highest category in 2003 was once a week, not a tie between weekly and monthly; 2003’s “a few times a year” figure was about 12.5%, not “almost 15%”; and 2013’s 15% for this category was not the lowest frequency. The report also omits the overall shift from weekly visits towards monthly visits by 2013. Select the main trends accurately and support them with clear comparisons.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a basic paragraph structure, moving from an introduction and overview to comparisons, and words such as “Overall,” “Similarly,” and “Moreover” show an attempt to connect ideas. However, the progression is not consistently clear: the final paragraph moves between different categories without a clear organising principle, and “Also” and “Moreover” do not clarify how the points relate. Some references are difficult to follow, particularly “the least” and “the lowest frequency,” because it is not always clear whether these refer to a year, a percentage, or a category. Group the data by meaningful trends—for example, frequent versus occasional visits—and use precise references to make comparisons easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The response uses some relevant chart vocabulary, including “frequencies,” “percentages,” “highest number,” and “eating once or twice in a month.” However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate or awkward. “Fast food hotels” is not an appropriate term for restaurants, while “the most number of people” and “the values have small difference” are unnatural. “The lowest frequency” is also used where the intended meaning appears to be a low percentage of people. These choices sometimes make the data description harder to interpret. Use standard terms such as “proportion,” “share,” and “frequency of visits,” and choose verbs such as “accounted for” or “stood at” when reporting figures.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

There is some variety in sentence forms, including a relative clause in “the year that has the most number of people” and a comparison introduced by “Similarly.” The main meaning is generally recoverable, but errors in sentence construction and punctuation are noticeable. For example, “Overall, fast food the lowest frequencies…” is missing a grammatical link, and “The values have small difference” lacks an article and has an awkward singular noun phrase. The sentence beginning “2003 had almost 15%…” also has an unclear structure, while commas and spacing are inconsistent in “2003,2006 and 2013.” Aim for complete, well-formed sentences, check articles and singular/plural agreement, and use past-tense forms consistently when describing the years shown.

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