Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-24

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 6.5)

The pie charts present average proportion of three types of nutrients such as sodium, saturated fats and added sugar in typical meals consumed in the United States.

Overall, it can be seen that a typical Amerian dinner contains highest proportion of sodium and saturated fats. Whereas typical snack contains high sugar level which may be unhealthy if eaten too much.

The sodium percentage leads in dinner with 43%, followed by lunch (29%). Breakfast and snack has the lowest proportion of sodium marked at 14% each. However, saturated fats have highest share in dinner with 37%,which is slightly lower than the sodium content. Whereas breakfast has the lowest ratio of saturated fats (16%). In addition, snack and lunch contain almost similar proportion of saturated fats, at 21% and 26% respectively.

On the other hand, snack contains almost half of the sugar content at 42% which is highly consumed by Americans. Followed by dinner, which contains 23% of added sugar, while breakfast and lunch have lowest added sugar ratio at 16% and 19% respectively.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.5

The response selects the main features accurately and gives a clear overview: dinner has the largest shares of sodium and saturated fat, while snacks lead for added sugar. The figures reported are consistent with the charts, including sodium at 43% for dinner and 29% for lunch, and snack sugar at 42%. Comparisons across meals are also relevant, such as noting the equal 14% sodium shares for breakfast and snacks. This is a well-focused summary with the key patterns supported by data. To strengthen it further, avoid unsupported interpretation: “which is highly consumed by Americans” goes beyond what the chart shows, and the overview could compare the relative pattern across all three nutrients more explicitly.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The information is arranged in a clear sequence: an introduction, an overview, then details on sodium and saturated fat followed by added sugar. This makes the main comparisons easy to follow, and linking phrases such as “Overall,” “However,” and “On the other hand” help signal shifts. The organisation is coherent, but cohesion is not always smooth. “Whereas” begins a sentence fragment in the overview and again in the sodium paragraph, while “Followed by dinner” is also an incomplete sentence. Some transitions, including “However,” do not express a strong contrast between the points that follow. For a more controlled progression, connect these clauses to the preceding sentences and use transitions that accurately reflect the relationship between the data.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The response uses an adequate range of task-related vocabulary, including “proportion,” “share,” “contains,” and “followed by,” and the meaning remains clear. There are attempts to vary wording rather than repeat the chart labels throughout. However, some choices are imprecise or unnatural: “sugar level” and “sugar content” are less suitable than describing the percentage of added sugar, and “leads in dinner” is not a natural collocation. “Amerian” is also misspelled, and “ratio” is not the best term for these chart percentages. Aim for precise, consistent language such as “accounts for,” “the highest proportion,” and “percentage of added sugar”; this would improve accuracy and flexibility.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response attempts both simple and more complex sentence forms, and several statements communicate the comparisons clearly. However, grammatical control is uneven, with errors in agreement, articles, sentence boundaries, and punctuation. For example, “Breakfast and snack has” should use a plural verb, and “contains highest proportion” needs an article before “highest.” The clauses beginning “Whereas” and “Followed by dinner” are fragments rather than complete sentences. There is also missing spacing after the comma in “37%,which.” These issues do not prevent understanding, but they limit accuracy. Practise joining contrast clauses to complete sentences and check subject–verb agreement and article use when editing.

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