Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-17

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 chart illustrates the number of people eating fast food in restuarants in USA between 2003 and 2013.

Overall, most of the people ate once a week and once or twice a month in between 2003 and 2013 at fast food restuarants whereas there were less people consuming everyday or never.

People avoided eating everyday from fast food restuarants during the 2003, 2006 and 2013 by 4%, 3% respectively and same was the case for people who never consumed but a bit increased from everyday people.13 to 15% people used have it a few times a year in those years while in 2006 most of people visited by 20% along with 2003 being at 17% and 2013 at 16%.

Furthermore, the most people that ate from fast food restuarants were those who used to have once a week or once or twice a month. In 20026 most had by 35% and same was the case in 2013 for poeple who used to go once or twice a month. Other years also has the high percentage of poeple eating but less than the mentioned one. Like in 2003, once a week was at 31% whereas in 2013 it was 27%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the broad pattern that weekly and monthly visits were the most common, while daily visits and never eating fast food were uncommon. However, several key figures and comparisons are inaccurate or unclear. For example, the highest weekly figure was 33% in 2006, not 35%, and the 2013 weekly figure was about 28%, rather than 27%. The monthly category peaked at 33% in 2013, but this is not clearly distinguished from the weekly peak. The sentence about daily and never eating also gives incomplete figures and an unclear comparison. To make the summary more complete, report the main shifts accurately: weekly eating declined after 2006, while monthly eating rose and became the leading category in 2013.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, an overview and two detail paragraphs. The overview also gives the reader a useful indication of the most and least common frequencies. However, progression within the detail paragraphs is difficult to follow because several categories and years are combined in long, unclear sentences. For instance, the sentence beginning “People avoided eating everyday” moves between daily eating, never eating and yearly eating without clear separation. “Furthermore” introduces another point, but the paragraph then repeats the earlier claim about the most common categories. Organise the details by category or by year, and use shorter sentences with clear comparisons. This would make the relationships between figures easier to understand.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant vocabulary for describing the chart, including “Overall,” “percentage,” “consuming” and “a few times a year.” However, the range is limited and several expressions are repeated, particularly “people,” “ate” and “fast food restaurants.” Some word choices and collocations are unnatural, such as “most had by 35%,” “people avoided eating everyday” and “used have it.” There are also spelling errors, including “restuarants,” “poeple” and “everyday” where the intended meaning is “every day.” These issues sometimes make the intended comparison harder to follow. Practise using precise chart language such as “accounted for,” “the proportion,” “rose to” and “declined to,” while checking spelling and the distinction between “everyday” and “every day.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple and more complex sentences, including clauses introduced by “whereas” and “while.” However, complex sentences are often faulty, and errors in verb forms, agreement, articles and sentence construction frequently affect clarity. For example, “most of people visited by 20%” lacks a clear grammatical structure, while “Other years also has the high percentage” has an agreement error and an unclear comparison. The sentence beginning “People avoided eating…” also has an incomplete construction and confusing punctuation. Aim for accurate, direct sentences such as “In 2006, 20% ate fast food several times a week.” Then combine ideas only when the grammar remains controlled, checking subject–verb agreement and sentence boundaries.

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