Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-29
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 three pie charts compare the average proportion of sodium, saturated fats and added sugar in typical meals consumed in the usa, and if eaten excessively can be harmful for body.
Overall, Sodium remains the highest neutrient used in the dinner, followed by added sugar in snacks. There is very less quantity of neutrients used in breakfast.
Sodium is used in dinner with 43%, while there is 29% usage in lunch. Sodium has equal percentage of usage in breakast and snack has equal, which is 14% each. Similarly saturated fat chart shows similar trend with 37% in dinner, followed by luch and snack, while breakfast remain at the last.
Added sugar shows some different result with 42% of usage in snack which is more than both saturated fat and sodium. Added sugar in Lunch was 19% while breakfast has same percentage as of saturated fat.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0
The student attempts to cover all three charts by discussing sodium, saturated fats, and added sugars across the four meal times. However, the response suffers from a critical length penalty, falling short of the 150-word minimum at 145 words. While an overview is attempted in the second paragraph, it is somewhat vague and contains lexical inaccuracies such as referring to nutrients as being 'used in the dinner'. Furthermore, some data reporting lacks precision and comparison is largely sequential rather than analytical. To reach a higher band, the student must expand the analysis, provide clearer comparisons between the nutrients, ensure all data is accurately framed, and meet the minimum word count requirement.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The response is organized into four paragraphs, including a brief introduction and an overview. Logical progression is attempted, but it is hindered by repetitive phrasing and weak cohesive devices. Transitions between sentences feel mechanical (e.g., 'Similarly saturated fat chart shows...', 'Added sugar shows some different result'). Paragraphing is initiated, but the paragraphs are very short and lack internal cohesion. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as pronoun use and ambiguous comparisons between meal types. Overall arrangement is coherent enough to follow the general meaning, but better logical connectors and smoother transitions are needed for a higher score.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive. The student attempts some topic-specific vocabulary such as 'proportion', 'percentage', and names of nutrients, but makes notable lexical errors and spelling mistakes ('usa', 'neutrient', 'luch', 'breakast'). Collocations are sometimes unnatural, such as 'neutrients used in the dinner' instead of 'nutrients consumed at dinner'. The range of vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey the basic points from the charts, but frequent errors in spelling and word choice restrict the score to a Band 5.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, though complex structures are often prone to errors. Examples include 'Sodium has equal percentage of usage in breakast and snack has equal, which is 14% each', which is grammatically confused and fragmented. There are also capitalization errors ('usa'), punctuation slips, and subject-verb agreement issues (e.g., 'breakfast remain'). While the meaning is generally communicated despite these errors, the high frequency of grammatical slips in a short text prevents the response from achieving a higher band.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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