Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-11-12

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The charts below show the average percentages in typical meals of three types of nutrients, all of which may be unhealthy if eaten too much.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Average percentages of sodium, saturated fats and added sugars in typical meals consumed in the USA

Student answer (Band 5.0)

The charts below illustrates a difference between the average percentage of three different type's of meals of three different types of nutrients that is being consumed by the people of USA.

The first chart illustrates the sodium level in the meals people in usa consume,Where the least amount of sodium being ingested is in the everyday snacks and the most importent meal of the day breakfast while it got higher and lunch and then reaching its peak point in dinner meals.

The second chart shows the percent of saturated fats being ingested in 4 meals being the same as the first bar including Breakfast at 16%,Snakc at 21%,Lunch at 26%,and being the highest at dinner.

The third chart shows added sugar in the meals with notable difference in the meals swallowed by The people in USA where in every meal whether it's in snack and lunch only being siginificantly low in dinner and almost the same with lunch in compared to the other charts

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

You identify the three nutrients and refer to meal categories, but the main features are not reported accurately or clearly enough. For sodium, you correctly indicate that dinner is highest and snacks are lowest, but breakfast is not the “most important meal” in terms of sodium; it is tied with snacks at 14%. For saturated fat, you give several figures, but omit the dinner value of 37%. The added-sugar paragraph does not clearly state the key pattern: snacks are highest at 42%, while breakfast is lowest at 16%. There is also no concise overview comparing the charts. Select the dominant highs and lows, report them precisely, and summarise how added sugar differs from the other nutrients.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic sequence, moving from sodium to saturated fat and then added sugar, and each paragraph signals which chart is being discussed. This gives the reader some organisation. However, the progression within paragraphs is often difficult to follow: the sodium sentence combines several comparisons without clear links, while the final paragraph shifts between snacks, lunch and dinner without establishing a clear comparison. The opening repeats the task wording rather than presenting a useful overview. Use a separate overview followed by logically grouped details, and connect comparisons explicitly—for example, contrast dinner’s high sodium and saturated fat shares with snacks’ high added-sugar share.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “sodium,” “saturated fats,” “added sugar,” “percentage,” and “peak point.” However, the range is limited and several choices are inaccurate or awkward, which sometimes makes the intended meaning unclear. “The most important meal of the day” does not describe the chart’s highest value, and “meals swallowed” is not a natural way to describe food consumption in an IELTS report. Spelling errors such as “importent,” “Snakc,” and “siginificantly” also reduce accuracy. Aim for precise reporting language such as “accounted for,” “share,” “highest proportion,” and “lowest figure,” and check spelling and collocations carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt longer sentences and use some linking structures, but control is inconsistent, and errors frequently make the relationships between ideas harder to understand. For example, “The charts below illustrates” has a subject–verb agreement error, while “the least amount of sodium being ingested is…” is an incomplete construction. The sentence beginning “The third chart shows added sugar…” contains several clauses without clear grammatical connections. Capitalisation and punctuation are also unreliable, including “usa,Where” and the missing full stop at the end. Practise building accurate simple comparison sentences first, then combine them with controlled clauses. Check agreement, sentence boundaries, and punctuation before submitting.

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