Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-21

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 graphs illustrates how rapidly persons in the USA ate in fast food restaurants from 2003 to 2013. The units are measured in percentage of people.

Overall, once a week peoples from 2006 had the highest percentage of people eating fast food in hotels, whereas never and every day have the almost same percentage of people.

For everyday, years passed but no drastic change observed same as humans never visited fast food restaurants, while once a week and once or twice a month have been same for the year 2003, but for the year 2006, it drops to almost 10% where from 33% to 25% respectively. But in 2013, shown the vice-versa of the trend.

Several times a week, in 2003, it has reported 16%, meanwhile for 2006 it showed increased for 20% and later by year 2013 again it drops to approximately 15%, on the other hand a few time a year shown constant after 2003 at 15%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the main categories and make an effort to compare the years, including the peak for weekly eating in 2006 and the broadly low figures for daily eating and never eating. However, the overview is unclear and partly inaccurate: “once a week” was not highest in 2006 overall, since the largest category in 2013 was eating once or twice a month at 33%. The claim that weekly and monthly figures were the same in 2003 is also incorrect (31% and 30%), and the later “vice-versa” trend is not explained clearly. Several figures are misreported, such as 2003 several-times-a-week eating (17%, not 16%) and the 2013 figure (16%, not approximately 15%). Select the main contrasts accurately and explain them directly.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

The response has a basic paragraph structure, with an introduction, an overview and further comparisons, and it attempts to connect ideas using “whereas,” “while” and “on the other hand.” However, progression is difficult to follow because several trends are combined in long, loosely connected sentences. For example, the sentence beginning “For everyday” moves from daily eating to never eating and then to weekly and monthly figures without clear separation. “Vice-versa of the trend” also leaves the comparison unclear. Organise the body by related categories or by the most important changes, and use shorter sentences with explicit references to each year. This would make the comparisons easier to track.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant chart vocabulary, including “percentage,” “increased,” “drops” and “trend,” so the reader can recognise that you are describing changes over time. However, the range is limited and several choices are inaccurate or unnatural for this task. “How rapidly persons … ate” suggests speed rather than frequency, and “hotels” is not an appropriate substitute for fast-food restaurants. Phrases such as “shown the vice-versa of the trend” and “a few time a year shown constant” make the intended meaning harder to understand. Use precise terms such as “frequency,” “proportion,” “rose,” “fell” and “remained stable,” and keep category labels consistent with the chart.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mixture of simple and longer sentences, and the time references show an effort to describe changes across three years. However, errors are frequent, particularly in subject–verb agreement, verb forms and sentence construction. Examples include “The bar graphs illustrates,” “once a week peoples … had,” and “in 2013, shown the vice-versa.” Some clauses are joined without a clear grammatical structure, as in “it drops to almost 10% where from 33% to 25% respectively,” which obscures the comparison. Practise forming complete clauses with a clear subject and verb, and check agreement and tense. For example: “The proportion eating weekly fell from 33% in 2006 to 28% in 2013.”

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