Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-03

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 6.0)

Excessive consumption of certain nutrients such as sodium, saturated fat and added sugar can be unhealthy. The pie charts provides information on the percentage of different nutrients in each meal, typically consumed in the USA.

Sodium along with saturated fat are highest in meals consumed for dinner. While snacks have the highest added sugars.

Breakfasts have 16% saturated fat, 16% added sugar and the least amount of sodium at 14%. Meals for lunch typically have, 29% of sodium, 26% of saturated fat and 19% of added sugar. Dinner have a significantly higher amount of sodium at 43%, saturated fats are also quite high at 37%, while it only contains 23% added sugar. Food consumed as snack have the highest added sugar at 42%, saturated fat at 21% and 14% sodium.

Overall, consumption of sodium and saturated fat is quite high in dinners, make it an unhealthy meal. While breakfasts have smaller proportion of all these nutrients, making it much healthier.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response successfully covers all parts of the prompt by presenting an overview and reporting the main features of the three nutrient charts. It selects relevant data and makes appropriate comparisons, such as noting that sodium and saturated fat peak at dinner while added sugars are highest in snacks. However, some parts are slightly more developed than others, and the level of detail varies across categories. For example, while the data points for breakfast, lunch, and dinner are listed, some descriptions lack deeper comparative extension to push the response into fully well-developed territory, sitting comfortably at a level where all parts are addressed but some ideas are slightly under-developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear logical structure that separates the introduction, body paragraphs, and an overall summary. Information is generally presented in a sensible progression, moving from general trends to specific nutrient breakdowns. However, cohesion is sometimes a bit mechanical or faulty. For instance, the transition between sentences can feel abrupt, and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the pronoun use in 'Dinner have a significantly higher amount...' and the fragmented nature of the second paragraph. Paragraphing is used, but the overall flow exhibits some awkward mechanical links rather than seamless progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms such as 'excessive consumption', 'nutrients', 'sodium', 'saturated fat', and 'added sugar'. There are clear attempts to use less common vocabulary like 'proportion' and 'significantly higher'. However, there are some word-choice and collocation errors, such as 'Food consumed as snack' instead of 'snacks', and minor grammatical-lexical slips like subject-verb agreement issues ('Dinner have') that stem from vocabulary handling. These errors do not impede communication, but they keep the lexical score anchored at a solid functional level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at comparative structures like 'While snacks have the highest added sugars' and 'Dinner have a significantly higher amount of sodium at 43%'. However, there are several errors in grammar and punctuation, including subject-verb agreement errors ('The charts provides', 'Dinner have'), a missing comma or awkward phrasing ('typically have, 29%'), and pluralization inconsistencies ('consumed as snack'). These errors occur frequently enough to impact the overall accuracy, though they rarely impede communication, placing the grammatical performance right at the threshold of mixed simple and complex structures.

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