Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-01
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 5.5)
The pie charts illustrates the average percentages of sodium, saturated fats and added sugars in favorite delicacies consumed in USA , a large proportion might be unhealthy if eaten excessively.
Overall, dinner and snack accounted for the highest number of sodium and added sugar consumed in USA, making it the largest amongst the meals. Whereas breakfast saw the lowest percentage of nutrient across the country.
Sodium and saturated fat contains approximately 37 to 40 percentages, making it the highest nutrient containing meals, while lunch occupied a quater percentage estimating 29 and 26 respectively. Furthermore breakfast and snack had within14% to 21% of sodium and saturated fat.
However, snack contains a little over half percentage of added sugar it its meal, making it the top rank among other foods, while dinner and lunch accounted for 29 and 19 percentage, making it the second most sourced food in USA. In contrast, dinner has the least amount of added sugar of just 16%.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response addresses the prompt by summarising the data for sodium, saturated fats, and added sugars in typical US meals, presenting an overview. However, the development of ideas is limited and contains several inaccuracies in data interpretation. For instance, the text claims that dinner and snacks accounted for the highest number of sodium and added sugar, and later confuses the specific proportions by stating that 'Sodium and saturated fat contains approximately 37 to 40 percentages', which misreads the charts where dinner accounts for 43% of sodium and 37% of saturated fat. Furthermore, the final paragraph confuses percentages for added sugar, stating that dinner has the least amount of added sugar of just 16% while breakfast is actually 16% and dinner is 23%. These inaccuracies and the partial development of key comparisons place this criterion at this level.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The response demonstrates some organisation with an introduction, an overview paragraph, and body paragraphs dedicated to specific nutrients. However, there is no clear overall progression, and the logical flow is hindered by inaccurate data reporting and mechanical or confusing cohesive devices. For example, transition words like 'Furthermore' and 'However' are used, but they link sentences that contain contradictory or confused mathematical information, such as 'snack contains a little over half percentage of added sugar it its meal' (the chart shows 42%). Referencing is also occasionally unclear, such as the pronoun 'it' in 'making it the largest' or 'it its meal', which creates confusion about whether the writer is referring to a meal type or a nutrient.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is limited and minimally adequate for the task, with noticeable errors that occasionally cause difficulty for the reader. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary such as 'excessively', 'proportion', and 'accounted for', but also makes significant word choice and collocation errors, such as describing the charts as illustrating 'favorite delicacies' rather than typical meals, and writing 'quater percentage', 'nutrient containing meals', and 'top rank among other foods'. There are also minor typographical and word form errors, such as 'illustrates' paired with a plural subject ('The pie charts illustrates'), 'it its meal', and missing prepositions or incorrect modifiers like 'a little over half percentage'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The response displays a limited range of structures, relying mostly on simple sentences alongside a few attempts at complex forms that are often faulty. There are frequent grammatical errors in subject-verb agreement, such as 'The pie charts illustrates', 'Sodium and saturated fat contains', and 'dinner has the least amount... of just 16%'. Prepositional and structural errors are also present, such as 'within14% to 21%', 'estimating 29 and 26 respectively', and 'accounting for 29 and 19 percentage'. Punctuation and spacing errors occur, such as spacing before commas. These frequent errors cause some difficulty for the reader and reflect a restricted control over grammatical forms.
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