Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-27
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 diagram illustrate the pie chart percentage of sodium, saturated fat and added sugar which are typically consumed by the population of the USA.
The percentage of sodium found in breakfast is 14%, saturated fat 16% and added sugar 16%. Which shows that sodium found in breakfast is in less quantity compared to others. The comes lunch, sodium 29%, saturated fat 26% and added sugar 19%. Both sodium and saturated fat is in high quantity. Moving on to dinner, the pie shows sodium 43%, saturated fat 37% and added sugar 23%. Compared to saturated fat and added sugar, the percentage of sodium found in dinner is the highest which is not good for people to consume that much as it can lead to many health problem, for example it can make you a hypertensive patient. Lastly snacks, sodium 14%, saturated fat 21% and added sugar 42%. The amount of sugar found snack is very high as it shows that that people takes sugary snack item in high percentage.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0
The student attempts to address the task by reporting the percentages of sodium, saturated fat, and added sugar across four meal times. While the main features are touched upon—such as dinner having the highest sodium and snacks having the highest added sugar—the response suffers from a lack of an overarching summary or clear overview, which is essential for Band 6 and above. Furthermore, the inclusion of personal commentary and speculative health consequences ('which is not good for people... it can make you a hypertensive patient') is inappropriate for an Academic Task 1 report, distracting from objective data presentation. The data points reported are generally accurate based on the chart, but the overall task fulfilment is limited by the lack of clear comparison structuring and the inclusion of irrelevant personal opinions.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0
The response is divided into paragraphs, but the logical progression and cohesive structure are weak. The opening sentence is grammatically incomplete and confusing. Transitions between meals rely on repetitive and mechanical phrases such as 'The comes lunch' and 'Moving on to dinner'. Referencing is sometimes unclear, and the lack of cohesive devices to link related data points makes the text feel disjointed. Paragraphing is attempted, but the grouping of information lacks sophistication, leading to a choppy reading experience that fits Band 5 descriptors.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive, frequently relying on exact repetition of the prompt's terms ('sodium', 'saturated fat', 'added sugar', 'percentage'). There are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'The comes lunch', 'in less quantity', and 'people takes sugary snack item'. While the words are sufficient to convey a rudimentary meaning, the restricted range and frequent lexical inaccuracies constrain the score to Band 5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The grammatical range is quite limited. The response consists mostly of simple listing sentences and fragments, such as 'The diagram illustrate the pie chart percentage...' and 'Which shows that sodium found in breakfast is in less quantity compared to others.' There are several distinct grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('the diagram illustrate', 'Both sodium and saturated fat is', 'people takes') and fragments starting with relative pronouns or conjunctions ('Which shows that...'). These frequent errors can cause occasional difficulty for the reader, aligning with Band 5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.