Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-28
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 chart illustrates the proportion of food consumed containing sodium, saturated fats and the added sugar in the USA.
Overall, Dinner has the larges poportion of all three nutrients but a bit less in added sugar . However interms of cuisine with added sugar snack contains massive propertion.Morever breakfast contains least percentage of all three nutirents .
talking about the dinner both the sodium and saturated fats contains large proportion with 43 percent and 37 percent repectively in comparision to others. morever in snacks and breakfast fat contains more then sodium with 6 percent and 2 percent more respectively.however in case of lunch sodium has the greater proportion with 3 percent more then sodium
while in terms of added sugar a slight changes can be seen where indvidual consumed snacks with the huge ratio of 42 percent followed with the dinner with the 23 pecent placed to be at the second.however the breakfast remains similar to the other nutrients.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 4.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 4.0 |
| Overall | 4.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0
The student attempts to cover the main features of the charts, noting that dinner is generally the highest for sodium and saturated fats, while snacks are highest for added sugar. However, the response suffers from several inaccuracies and unsupported claims. For instance, the statement 'dinner has the larges poportion of all three nutrients' is incorrect for added sugar, where snacks are the highest at 42 percent. Furthermore, the concluding sentence regarding lunch ('sodium has the greater proportion with 3 percent more then sodium') is confused and mathematically nonsensical. The overview is partially present, but the lack of precise data reporting and flawed comparisons place this criterion at a Band 5.0.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0
The text is organized into four paragraphs, attempting to group information logically by meals and nutrients. However, the progression is disrupted by mechanical and repetitive transitions such as 'morever', 'however', and 'talking about the dinner'. Paragraphing is attempted, but the logical flow is weak, and referencing is sometimes unclear, making it difficult to follow the relationships between the data points. Cohesive devices are either overused or inaccurate. These issues align with the Band 5.0 descriptors for logical flow and cohesion.
Lexical Resource: Band 4.5
The vocabulary is very limited and basic, featuring frequent spelling mistakes and word-choice errors ('poportion', 'interms', 'properting', 'nutirents', 'indvidual', 'pecent'). There is little evidence of less common lexical items, and the student struggles with accurate collocation and terminology (e.g., 'huge ratio' instead of 'large proportion'). While the vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey the basic topic of food nutrients, the constant spelling and lexical inaccuracies restrict the score to a Band 4.5, rounded to 5.0 for IELTS marking conventions or held tightly at 4.5 based on error density. Let us award 4.5, or 5.0 if we consider basic adequacy. Given the severity of spelling errors ('larges', 'poportion', 'interms', 'properting', 'nutirents', 'repectively', 'comparision', 'indvidual', 'pecent'), Band 4.5 is appropriate, but using whole/half bands, 4.5 fits the profile best.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.0
The response shows a very limited range of grammatical structures. Simple sentences dominate, and attempts at complex structures are frequently faulty or ungrammatical (e.g., 'talking about the dinner both the sodium and saturated fats contains large proportion with 43 percent and 37 percent repectively in comparision to others'). Punctuation and capitalization are poorly controlled, and subject-verb agreement errors are pervasive (e.g., 'dinner has... contains', 'fat contains'). Errors are frequent throughout the text and frequently cause strain for the reader, placing this firmly at a Band 4.0.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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