Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-27

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 chart illustrates the frequency of eating at fast food restaurants among people in the United States of America over a period of 10 years. Overall, it is clear from the chart majority of people of USA ate fast food once a week and once or twice a month. In contrast, some residents are interested in fast food everyday, while a small number of people never ate junk food at resturants.

Regarding the frequency of eating of fast food at resturants, a large porportion of people ate fast food once a week in 2006, at approximately 33%. Following that, other category people who went out side once or twice a month accounted for around 50%, while 20/30 residents ate fast food several time a week noticed for 20%. Moreover,the percentage of few people who are interested in a few times a years were 15%, meanwhile a small proportion of citizens ate unhealthy food was noticed at 5% or less than.

In 2003, once a week and once or twice a month people ate quick meals which percentage was

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

You identify the chart’s subject and make a broad attempt at an overview, noting that weekly and monthly visits were common and that daily visits and never eating out were uncommon. However, the overview is imprecise: the most frequent category changes from once a week in 2003 and 2006 to once or twice a month in 2013. The figures in the body are also confused. In 2006, monthly visits were about 25%, not “around 50%”; that figure appears to combine categories. The response gives some accurate values, such as 33% weekly in 2006 and 15% for a few times a year, but it ends mid-sentence and leaves the 2003 comparison unfinished. Select the main trends and report each comparison clearly and accurately.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

There is an attempt to organise the response into an introduction, an overview and body paragraphs, and linking expressions such as “Overall,” “Following that” and “Moreover” show an effort to connect points. However, the progression is difficult to follow because several categories are crowded into one paragraph and the comparisons are not clearly ordered by year or frequency. Phrases such as “Following that” do not make the relationship between the figures clear, and “while 20/30 residents” is hard to interpret. The final paragraph begins a 2003 comparison but stops before completing the idea, leaving the response without a clear conclusion. Use one paragraph for the overview and organise the details systematically, for example by comparing the three years across the main categories.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a reasonable range of topic-related vocabulary, including “frequency,” “accounted for,” “percentage” and “proportion,” and the meaning is generally recoverable. However, some choices are inaccurate or awkward for describing a chart. “Other category people” and “went out side” are unclear, while “interested in fast food” describes preference rather than how often people ate it. There are also spelling errors, including “resturants,” “porportion” and “everyday” where “every day” is intended. Repeated alternatives such as “quick meals,” “junk food” and “unhealthy food” are less precise than the chart’s neutral category labels. Prefer consistent, accurate terms such as “respondents” and “ate at fast-food restaurants,” and check spelling and collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including an overview sentence beginning “Overall” and a comparison introduced by “while.” Some sentences communicate their main point, but grammatical errors are frequent enough to make several relationships unclear. For example, “it is clear from the chart majority of people” is missing “that,” and “a large proportion of people ate … in 2006” is followed by an unclear fragment beginning “Following that.” The phrase “percentage of few people … were 15%” has problems with article use and subject–verb agreement. The final sentence is incomplete, so its intended comparison cannot be assessed. Build complete sentences around each figure, check agreement and articles, and use punctuation to separate comparisons.

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