Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-11-04

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 4.5)

The given chart illustrates how frequently people in the USA ate in food restaurants between 2003 and 2013.

Overall,the people that ate in fast food restaurants once a week was recorded in 2003 and 2006.The proportion of individuals that ate from fast food restaurants every day was very low over the period .

Moreover, the people that ate from fast food restaurants once a week was approximately 31% in 2003 and 33% in 2006 while,in 2013 it was roughly 27% in contrast,the people in the USA ate food

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.5

The response identifies the chart’s subject and notes that daily eating was uncommon, which is a relevant overview point. It also gives approximate weekly figures for 2003 and 2006. However, the overview is incomplete: it does not summarise the main shift to monthly visits becoming the most common frequency in 2013, and the final comparison is cut off after “the people in the USA ate food”. Several categories and years are therefore not meaningfully reported. The response contains 80 words, below the required 150; this leaves too little space to select and explain the key features. To improve, complete the comparison and cover the main categories, especially the rise in monthly visits and the decline in weekly visits by 2013.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

There is a basic attempt to organise the response, beginning with an introduction, followed by an overview and then a data comparison. “Overall” and “Moreover” signal these stages, but the progression is difficult to follow because the overview repeats the weekly-eating point and the final sentence stops mid-idea. The comparison also runs several clauses together, as in “while,in 2013 … in contrast,the people…”, so the relationships between figures are unclear. Use separate, complete sentences and organise the body around clear comparisons, such as weekly versus monthly visits across the three years. Check spacing after punctuation and ensure each paragraph develops a complete point.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The response uses relevant topic vocabulary, including “proportion”, “approximately” and “over the period”, and the meaning is generally understandable. However, the range is narrow and some expressions are imprecise or repetitive: “people that ate from fast food restaurants” is repeated, while “food restaurants” in the opening omits “fast”. “Was recorded” is also an awkward way to describe the most common frequency. Use concise chart language such as “the share of people who ate fast food weekly” and “the most common frequency”. More varied terms for the categories and changes would help you report the data precisely, while avoiding repeated wording.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple and more extended sentence forms, but control is uneven. Subject–verb agreement is incorrect in “the people … once a week was recorded”; the plural subject requires “were”, or the sentence could be recast as “weekly visits were most common”. The clause beginning “while, in 2013” is not completed clearly, and the final sentence is unfinished, leaving the reader without a complete grammatical thought. Punctuation also needs attention: there are missing spaces after commas and a run-on sequence of clauses. Practise writing complete comparisons with clear subjects and verbs, and use full stops to separate ideas. Accurate sentence boundaries would make the figures easier to understand.

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