Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-13

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 charts below illustrate the average percentages of sodium, saturated fat and added sugar in typical meals consumed in the United States of America.

Overall, there are different types of meals disscused in these charts. These are breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner.The dinner have accounted 43% of sodium. Which was the greater than of all others. Sugar was the highest amount in the snacks.

Firstly, breakfast have 14% of sodium. Whereas, the lunch have almost the double of breakfast, 29% of the sodium. Snack have the same proportion of sodium. 43% of sodium accounted for dinner. This is the greatest figure in the chart. A little number of saturated fat, 16% is include in the breakfast. 26% of saturted fat included in lunch. 21% and 37% of saturated fat include in the snack and dinner respectively.

Futhermore, the high amount of sugar contain in snack. This was 42%. 16% sugar include in breakfast. In the lunch, there is 19% sugar and in dinner the amount of sugar is 23%

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the main pattern that dinner contributes the largest shares of sodium and saturated fat, while snacks have the highest added-sugar share. Most figures are reported accurately, including sodium at 14% for breakfast and snacks, 29% for lunch and 43% for dinner, and snack sugar at 42%. However, the overview is brief and does not clearly compare all three nutrients; for example, it could note that dinner is also the largest source of saturated fat (37%), whereas added sugar is concentrated in snacks. Some details are presented without a clear comparison, and the phrase “Sugar was the highest amount in the snacks” is imprecise. A fuller overview and more selective comparisons would make the key features clearer and better developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and two detail paragraphs. The sequence from sodium to saturated fat and then added sugar is generally understandable, and “Firstly” and “Furthermore” help signal movement between points. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes mechanical, with repeated sentence patterns such as “X% of …” and limited links between related comparisons. The overview also contains a sentence fragment: “Which was the greater than of all others,” interrupting the flow. Punctuation and spacing issues, including “dinner.The,” further affect readability. Grouping the meal comparisons more deliberately and using clearer links between figures would create a more coherent progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant chart vocabulary, including “average percentages,” “proportion,” “accounted for,” and “figure,” so the topic is generally clear. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, which makes parts of the report awkward. For instance, “The dinner have accounted 43% of sodium” does not express the comparison naturally, and “A little number of saturated fat” is not an appropriate way to describe a percentage. There are also spelling errors such as “disscused,” “saturted,” and “Futhermore.” Aim for precise reporting language and check spelling; terms such as “share,” “contribution,” and “highest proportion” would help you describe the data more naturally.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The report relies mainly on simple sentence patterns, with limited evidence of controlled complex structures. Errors occur frequently in verb forms and agreement: “The dinner have accounted,” “breakfast have 14%,” and “Snack have the same proportion” should use singular agreement or a more suitable reporting construction. The sentence “Which was the greater than of all others” is a fragment, while “43% of sodium accounted for dinner” has an unclear grammatical relationship between the percentage and meal. Articles and sentence boundaries also need attention, as in “in the snack and dinner respectively” and the full stop before “Which.” These errors sometimes make the intended relationships harder to follow. Practise accurate comparison sentences and vary them only when you can maintain control.

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