Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-31

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 illustrate how the frequently people in the usa ate fast food in year 2003 to 2013

Overall, mostly people preffered eating fast food once or twice a month in contract ,once a week and only a small percentage preffered never and every day

In year, 2003 approximately 30% of people prefered eating fast food once a week while around 30% visible for once or twice a month about 17% of people ate fast food several time a week

In year 2006,the percentage of people eating fast food once a week increase slightly in once or twice a month,by 2013 eating fast food once or twice a month had become the most common habit,and at around 33% meanwhile,the proporation of people eating food several times a week was approximately 16%

To conclude,the chart shows that eating fast food once a week or once or twice a month was more popular than eating it every day.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the broad pattern that monthly or weekly visits were more common than eating fast food every day, and you correctly report several key figures, including about 30% for weekly and monthly visits in 2003 and 33% for monthly visits in 2013. However, coverage is partial: the 2006 figures are not clearly reported, and the account omits the changes in daily eating, infrequent visits and never eating fast food. The sentence about 2006 is also unclear and appears to suggest that weekly eating increased, although it peaked at 33% in 2006 before falling to 28% in 2013. A clearer overview of the main shifts, supported by accurate comparisons across all three years, would make the summary more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure, with an opening, an overview, year-based detail and a concluding sentence. This gives the reader a general route through the information. However, progression is uneven: the 2003 paragraph includes several figures, while the 2006 and 2013 comparison is compressed into one sentence and is difficult to follow. The phrase “increase slightly in once or twice a month” does not make clear which category changed, and “In year” is repeated as a paragraph opener. The conclusion largely repeats the overview rather than adding a useful comparison. Organise the body around the main categories or trends, and use clear links such as “by contrast” and “whereas” to show how the figures relate.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant task vocabulary, including “percentage,” “proportion,” “most common habit” and “approximately,” so the topic is generally understandable. However, the range is limited and several word-choice, collocation and spelling errors reduce precision: “how the frequently people” is not a natural phrase, “in contract” appears to mean “in contrast,” and “visible for” does not accurately describe a chart figure. There are also repeated misspellings such as “preffered,” “prefered” and “proporation.” Aim for accurate, conventional chart language and check spelling carefully. For example, describe a category as “accounted for” a percentage, and use “the proportion of people who ate” rather than “people eating food” when comparing groups.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple and more complex sentences, including a comparison introduced by “while” and a time clause beginning “by 2013.” However, control is inconsistent, and errors sometimes make relationships between figures difficult to understand. Examples include “The chart illustrate,” where subject–verb agreement is incorrect, and “In year, 2003,” which has an incomplete article and awkward sentence structure. In “the percentage … increase slightly in once or twice a month,” the verb form and sentence construction are faulty. Punctuation and spacing are also inconsistent, particularly around commas. Practise accurate past-tense reporting and build comparisons in complete clauses, such as “The figure for weekly visits rose to 33% in 2006, then fell to 28% in 2013.”

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