Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-29

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 6.5)

The bar chart compares the frequency of individuals in America who ate fast food in restaurants in six categories from the year 2003 to 2013.

Overall, majority of people consumed fast food weekly or monthly. In contrast, very small numbers of people were recorded eating fast food everyday or never eating at all. Meanwhile, the proportion of people who consumed multiple times a week or a few times a year came in middle.

The individuals who ate fast food everyday and who never did, had the lowest proportion (below 5%) in chart over the years, fell even below after 2003. Meanwhile, the people who ate multiple times a week were slightly above 15% in 2003, reached a peak of 20% in 2013 before falling back to nearly 15%.

The people who consumed fast food once a week were nearly 30% reaching a peak of way above 30% in 2006 before falling below 30% in 2013. The numbers of people eating once a month in restaurants dropped from 30% to 15% in 2006. But reached nearly 35% in 2013.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main pattern that weekly and monthly visits were more common than daily visits or never eating fast food, and you include relevant comparisons across the years. However, some details are inaccurate or unclear: the several-times-a-week figure peaked at 20% in 2006, not 2013, and the once-or-twice-a-month figure fell from 30% to 25% in 2006, not 15%. The overview also says the daily and never categories fell after 2003, but the never figure was about 3.5% in both 2006 and 2013. The less prominent “a few times a year” category is not described. More precise reporting of the key changes and a clearer overview would make the response more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs describing the data. The progression from less frequent categories to weekly and monthly eating is generally easy to follow, and linking words such as “Overall,” “In contrast,” and “Meanwhile” help signal relationships. This already gives the report a coherent structure. However, some connections are not fully logical: “Meanwhile” introduces the several-times-a-week figures after the daily and never categories, while “But reached nearly 35%” is a fragment rather than a complete continuation. Grouping the categories more consistently and using clearer references to the years would strengthen the flow and make the comparisons easier to track.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for describing the chart, including “proportion,” “consumed,” “reaching a peak,” and “dropped.” These choices help you avoid relying entirely on basic words, and the meaning is generally clear. Some expressions are imprecise or awkward, however. “Came in middle” is not a natural way to describe intermediate values, and “multiple times a week” is less exact than the chart’s category, “several times a week.” “Everyday” should be “every day” when referring to frequency, while “numbers of people” is less suitable than “proportions” for percentages. More precise chart vocabulary and natural collocations would improve flexibility and accuracy.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and more complex forms, including relative clauses in “people who ate fast food” and comparisons such as “from 30% to 15%.” Most sentences communicate the intended meaning, but some grammatical errors remain. The overview needs an article in “the majority of people,” and the sentence beginning “The individuals who ate fast food everyday…” has an awkward subject structure and an unnecessary comma before “had.” “But reached nearly 35% in 2013” is a sentence fragment; it should be joined to the preceding sentence or rewritten with a subject. There is also a tense inconsistency in “reached a peak … before falling,” where the reported figures should be described consistently in the past. Greater control of complete sentences and clause structure would improve accuracy.

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