Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-13

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 4.5)

The given pie chart illustrates the average ratio in typical meals of three types of nutrients, all of which may be unhealthy if consumed too much:

The first category is sodium in breakfast, 14% of sodium is consumed in snacks the consumption is same as that of breakfast whereas in lunch the consumption is 29% on the other hand in dinner the ratio is 43%. The second category is saturated fat in breakfast, 16% of saturated fat is consumed whereas in lunch the ratio is 26% whereas in lunch 26% of saturated fat is consumed on the other hand in dinner, 37% of saturated fat is consumed

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0

The response fails to meet the minimum length requirement of 150 words, containing only 107 words, which significantly impacts task completion. While the student attempts to summarise the data for sodium and saturated fats, the information provided is incomplete because the third nutrient category, added sugars, is entirely omitted. Furthermore, the data description is extremely limited and lacks comparisons across the categories or meals as requested by the prompt. There is no clear overview presented, and the response stops abruptly before covering the full scope of the visual charts. Consequently, this falls under Band 4.0 due to the minimal and incomplete response.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0

The text suffers from severe organizational issues, primarily because it is written as one long, run-on block of text without proper paragraphing. There is a complete lack of cohesive devices or punctuation to separate ideas, resulting in repetitive and confusing sentence structures, such as repeating 'whereas in lunch 26% of saturated fat is consumed'. Progression is unclear as the student crams multiple data points into a single dense paragraph. Although the sequence follows a logical order starting with sodium and moving to saturated fat, the mechanical faults and lack of paragraph structure restrict the coherence score to Band 4.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is very basic and repetitive, heavily relying on simple terms like 'percentage', 'ratio', 'consumed', and 'category'. Phrases such as 'the consumption is same as that of breakfast' demonstrate limited flexibility. There are no attempts at less common lexical items, and the range is restricted to what is minimally necessary to describe the basic figures. Spelling is generally acceptable, but the lack of precise vocabulary and word choice variety keeps the lexical score at a Band 5.0 level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

The grammatical structure is heavily flawed by run-on sentences and comma splices, such as '14% of sodium is consumed in snacks the consumption is same as that of breakfast whereas in lunch the consumption is 29%'. There is a lack of varied complex sentence structures, and punctuation is almost entirely neglected, leading to heavy strain on the reader. Errors in basic sentence construction and syntax are frequent throughout the response, justifying a band score of 4.0.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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