Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

The chart shows the number of people who ate at fast food restaurants in the USA between 2003 and 2013.

Overall we can see that people mostly eat at fast food restaurants once a week or once or twice a month. Percentage of people eating at restaurants everyday is the lowest. We can also see very less people are there who never eat at restaurants. The number of people eating at fast food restaurants several times a week and few times a year is almost the same.

In the year 2003 only 4% of people,in 2006 and 2013 only 3% ate at restaurants evryday.

About 17% of people in 2003, 20% in 2006 and 16% in 2013 ate several times a week outside. The number of people who ate once a week was 31% in 2003, 32% in 2006 and 27% in 2013 and those who ate once or twice a year was 30% in 2003, 25% in 2006 and 33% in 2013.

The number of people having food at restaurants a few times a year in 2003 was 15%, 15% in both 2006 and 2013. 5% of people never ate at restaurants in 2003, and 4% in 2006 and 2013.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the main pattern that weekly and monthly visits were the most common, and you include figures for all six frequency categories. However, several figures are inaccurate: weekly eating in 2006 and 2013 was about 33% and 28%, not 32% and 27%; “once or twice a month” is incorrectly called “once or twice a year”; and the “few times a year” figure for 2003 was about 12.5%, not 15%. The overview also says daily eating was the lowest, although “never” was slightly lower in 2006 and 2013. These errors and the limited comparison of changes mean the key features are only partly reported clearly. Check each category against the chart and highlight the shift from weekly visits to monthly visits by 2013.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and paragraphs giving figures for the different categories. This helps the reader follow the general subject. However, the progression is mostly a sequence of figures rather than a clear comparison of patterns across the years. For example, the final paragraph lists the yearly figures for “a few times a year” and “never” without explaining how these compare with the more common frequencies. Some linking is repetitive, particularly the repeated use of “The number of people” and “We can also see.” Group related categories and use concise comparisons such as “by contrast” or “whereas” to make the relationships between trends clearer.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic vocabulary to communicate the main categories, including “once a week,” “several times a week,” and “a few times a year.” However, the range is limited and some expressions are imprecise or unnatural for describing chart data. “People mostly eat” sounds like a general present-day claim rather than a summary of the figures, while “very less people are there” and “ate ... outside” are awkward choices. There is also a category-label error in “once or twice a year,” which changes the meaning of the chart. Use accurate chart terminology consistently and choose neutral reporting phrases such as “accounted for” or “the proportion who ate.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use both simple statements and some longer sentences joined with “and,” and the overall meaning is generally understandable. However, grammatical control is uneven. In “Percentage of people eating at restaurants everyday is the lowest,” the noun phrase needs an article, and “people ... who never eat” does not fit smoothly with the surrounding past-time reporting. The sentence beginning “The number of people who ate once a week...” also joins several comparisons in a way that makes the structure difficult to follow. Punctuation is inconsistent, including the missing space after the comma in “people,in 2006.” Practise accurate article use and past-tense reporting, and separate long lists into clearer sentences.

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