Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

The bar chart compares the frequency of eating at fast food resturants among people in the USA over the period of ten years.

Overall, the number of people who visited fast food resturants once a week and once or twice a month accounted for the highest proportion of frequent visits over the years. While, the lowest contribution was made by people who went to a resturant every day.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

You identify the chart’s subject and give a broad overview, noting that weekly and monthly visits were the most common categories and daily visits the least common. These are relevant features, but the response does not report any figures or describe how the categories changed between 2003, 2006 and 2013. The overview is also imprecise: daily visits were among the lowest, but “Never” was similarly low. The task requires a summary of the main data and comparisons, and at 68 words this response is 82 words below the 150-word minimum. Add key percentages and explain the main shifts, such as monthly visits rising to the highest share in 2013 while weekly visits declined.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic, understandable structure: an introductory sentence is followed by an overview, and “Overall” signals the shift to the main observation. The ideas are relevant and easy to follow, but the response ends before it develops a clear progression through the chart’s data. “While” is used after a full stop, leaving the second overview point as a fragment rather than connecting it smoothly to the first sentence. To improve, organise the summary into an introduction, a concise overview, and one or two paragraphs comparing the figures across years. Use linking expressions to show contrasts and changes, rather than relying on a single transition.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “frequency,” “proportion,” and “accounted for,” and the meaning is generally clear. However, the range is limited in this short response, and some choices are imprecise: “contribution” does not naturally describe the share of people in a category, while “frequent visits” is unclear when referring to both weekly and monthly eating. There is also a spelling error in “resturants,” repeated twice. Use precise chart language such as “the proportion of people” and “the most common frequencies,” and vary verbs with options such as “rose,” “fell,” or “remained stable” when describing the data. This would make the report more accurate and natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response includes a straightforward introductory sentence and an attempt at a more complex overview using “While.” Most of the intended meaning can be understood, but the range of sentence structures is narrow, and the second sentence is not correctly formed: “While, the lowest contribution was made…” is a dependent clause separated from the preceding sentence, and the comma after “While” is unnecessary. Join the contrast to the previous clause or write it as a complete sentence, for example, “Daily visits accounted for the smallest share.” The phrase “over the period of ten years” is also grammatically awkward in context; the chart covers 2003 to 2013. More varied, complete sentences would improve control and clarity.

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