Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-19

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)

The pie chart demonstrates the information about the average percentages in typical meals of three different types of nutrients, which may be unhealthy if eaten too much.The data is categorized into four types (e.g,.., breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner).

Overall, dinner accounted for the highest figure in sodium and saturated fat while snack is highest in added sugar. In contrast, breakfast generally has lowest figure in all the three nutrients except sodium which was lowest in snack.

In all the three types of nutrients, dinner has consumed large amount of sodium at 43% which was the highest amoung all the other categories. Lunch recorded 29% which was the second highest. By comparison, breakfast and snack were the smallest category, at just 14%. A similiar pattern can be seen in the saturated fat, where dinner had the largest portion at 37% followed by lunch which stood at 26%.Snacks recorded at 21% while breakfast was the lowest in both types at 16% the lowest value recorded.

Turning to the added sugar, snack becomes the highest figure with 42% followed by dinner which stood at 23% and lunch at 19%.Meanwhile, breakfast stood at 16% which is lowest.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The response identifies the main contrasts accurately: dinner has the largest shares of sodium and saturated fat, while snacks lead for added sugar. It also reports the key figures correctly, including dinner’s 43% sodium and snacks’ 42% added sugar, and compares the meal categories across all three nutrients. The overview is clear and the details support it. One point could be expressed more precisely: “breakfast generally has lowest figure in all the three nutrients except sodium” is awkward and slightly obscures that breakfast and snacks tie for the lowest sodium share at 14%. The report otherwise selects relevant features and gives a sufficiently developed account of the charts; a more exact overview of the lowest values would strengthen it further.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate detail paragraphs for sodium and saturated fat, then added sugar. This makes the comparisons easy to follow, and transitions such as “Overall,” “By comparison,” and “Turning to” help signal shifts. However, some linking is mechanical or unclear. “In all the three types of nutrients” introduces a paragraph that discusses sodium and saturated fat rather than all three, and “A similar pattern” is not fully precise because the snack and breakfast figures differ between the two nutrients. Several sentences also run together without spaces after full stops, such as “26%.Snacks” and “19%.Meanwhile,” which interrupts the flow. More precise referencing and cleaner sentence boundaries would improve cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for describing chart data, with useful terms such as “accounted for,” “followed by,” “recorded,” and “portion.” The writer also varies some descriptions of the figures rather than relying entirely on one verb. However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, including “dinner has consumed large amount,” “highest figure,” and “smallest category.” Spelling errors such as “amoung” and “similiar” are noticeable, and “becomes the highest” is not a natural way to describe a static chart. These choices do not prevent the reader from understanding the comparisons, but they limit precision and fluency. Aim for standard chart language such as “the proportion of sodium was highest at dinner” and check spelling carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response uses a mixture of simple and more complex forms, including a relative clause in the introduction and comparison structures such as “while” and “where.” Most relationships between the figures remain understandable. Some grammatical errors are evident, however: “dinner has consumed large amount” uses an unsuitable verb construction and lacks an article, while “breakfast generally has lowest figure” also needs an article. Tense and agreement are inconsistent in “snack is highest” and “snack becomes the highest figure,” and the sentence beginning “In all the three types” does not match the information that follows. Punctuation is also inconsistent, with missing spaces after sentence-ending full stops. More controlled article use, verb forms, and sentence editing would improve accuracy.

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