Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-11-04

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 5.0)

The pie charts show the percentages of sodium, saturated fat and added sugar in everyday meals of Americans. Overall, It depicts how much of these lunch, dinner, breakfast and snack contain.

Mostly dinner contains most of these, especially sodiam and saturated fat accounting 43 to 37 percent. Added sugar is much in snack, so it tells we have to decrease snack to eat. Most interesting fact is that all of these three ingredients are less in breakfast than other meals.

Sodium is consumed much in dinner at 43 percent, saturated fat is 37 percent highest in dinner and sugar is 42 percent in snack. For luch, it show medium rate of ingredients which are 9 to 29 percents.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the main pattern that dinner has the highest shares of sodium and saturated fat, while snacks have the most added sugar. However, the report is only partial and underdeveloped: it gives few comparisons and does not accurately describe lunch, where the figures are 29% sodium, 26% saturated fat and 19% added sugar. The claim that breakfast is lowest for all three is incorrect, since snacks have the lowest sodium share too, at 14%, equal to breakfast. The statement that lunch ranges from “9 to 29 percents” is also inaccurate. The advice to “decrease snack” is not appropriate for a chart summary. The response is 32 words below the required minimum; develop the key comparisons and include accurate figures.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

There is some basic organisation: you begin with an introduction and an overall statement, then add details about dinner, snacks and lunch. This gives the reader a general sense of the chart’s subject. However, progression is limited because the same points are repeated—for example, dinner’s high sodium and saturated-fat shares appear in both the overview and the detail paragraph—while other comparisons are omitted. Linking and reference are also sometimes unclear, as in “Overall, It depicts how much of these…” and “For luch, it show medium rate.” Use a clearer sequence, such as an overview followed by a comparison of meal patterns, and connect each figure explicitly to its nutrient and meal.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

Your vocabulary is sufficient to identify the chart’s main categories, using terms such as “sodium,” “saturated fat,” “added sugar,” and “percentages.” However, the range is limited, and several choices or collocations make the report awkward or unclear. “Dinner contains most of these” is imprecise because the chart shows percentages of each nutrient by meal, not amounts contained in a meal; “accounting 43 to 37 percent” is also not a natural construction. There are noticeable spelling errors, including “sodiam” and “luch,” and “medium rate” does not clearly describe the figures. Use precise reporting language such as “accounted for,” “share,” and “proportion,” and check spelling before submitting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You use some simple sentences and attempt longer structures, but the range is limited and errors occur frequently enough to affect clarity. For example, “Overall, It depicts how much of these lunch, dinner, breakfast and snack contain” has an unclear subject and an incomplete grammatical relationship between the meals and nutrients. In “For luch, it show medium rate,” the verb does not agree with “it,” and the sentence lacks a clear article and structure. Capitalisation after “Overall,” is also incorrect. Practise building accurate comparison sentences, such as “Dinner accounts for 43% of sodium, compared with 29% at lunch,” and check subject–verb agreement, articles and punctuation.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.