Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-11-01

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 6.0)

The graph shows the pattern of how often Americans went to fast-food restaurants in three non-consecutive years: 2003, 2006, and 2013.

Overall, in all three years, the majority of people ate in fast-food restaurants either once a week or once or twice a month. The proportion of people eating in restaurants every day holds the smallest share.

The habit of eating fast food once a week was the highest among people in 2006, at around 33%. By 2013 the same proportion of people ate in restaurants once or twice a month in restaurants. In 2003, almost 31% of people ate outside once a week, making it the largest share for the year.

Out of all, the pattern of eating outside was relatively lower in all the years, out of which around 4% in 2003, and around 3% in 2006 and 2013.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the chart’s subject and give a relevant overview: weekly or monthly visits account for the largest shares, while daily visits are among the smallest. You also accurately report key peaks, including 33% for weekly visits in 2006 and 33% for monthly visits in 2013. However, coverage is incomplete: the final paragraph discusses low-frequency eating but does not clearly distinguish “a few times a year” from “never,” and the claim that daily eating has the smallest share is not consistently true, since “never” is lower in 2006 and 2013. The response is also below the required 150 words. Develop the overview and compare more of the categories and changes across years.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure, moving from an introduction to an overview and then to selected details. This makes the main message easy to follow. Linking phrases such as “Overall,” “By 2013,” and “In 2003” help signal the comparisons. However, the final paragraph begins “Out of all” and repeats the idea of lower frequency without specifying clearly which category is being described; “the pattern of eating outside” is also an unclear reference. The body paragraphs would progress more logically if each focused on a clear comparison, such as the most common frequencies first and the least common categories second. Use more precise references and avoid repeating the overview.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of task-related vocabulary, including “proportion,” “majority,” “pattern,” and “share,” and the meaning is generally clear. There are also attempts to vary the wording for frequency, such as “once a week” and “once or twice a month.” Some choices are imprecise or repetitive, however. “Eating outside” does not clearly mean eating at fast-food restaurants, and “the pattern of eating outside was relatively lower” is awkward and vague. The phrase “in restaurants” is repeated in the same sentence, while “holds the smallest share” is less natural for describing chart data. Prefer precise category labels and conventional reporting language, such as “accounted for” or “the lowest proportion.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and more complex sentence forms, including the introductory clause “By 2013…” and the relative clause “out of which…”. Most sentences communicate the intended comparisons, and punctuation is generally controlled. Some grammatical patterns are awkward or unclear, though. In “By 2013 the same proportion of people ate in restaurants once or twice a month in restaurants,” the repeated phrase disrupts the sentence structure. “The proportion … holds the smallest share” also shifts awkwardly between a present-tense verb and a chart description, while “around 4% in 2003, and around 3%…” is an incomplete continuation. Practise concise comparative sentences and ensure each sentence has a clear subject and complete structure.

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