Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

The four pie charts illustrates the proportion of three different kinds of nutrients; sodium, saturated fats, and added sugar in breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner consumed in the USA on average.

Overall, the highest percentage present in a meal among the three given nutrients is sodium which makes up 43% of dinner on average, followed by saturated fats which are typically 37% present in dinner. On the other hand, snacks consititues the highest percentage, 42% of added sugar on average. The lowest present nutrient is sodium which is 14% in both snacks and breakfast.

The first pie chart represents the proportion of sodium in four typical meals; breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack. Along with 43%, 14%, 14% proportion in dinner, breakfast, and snack respectively, 29% of sodium is present in lunch as well. Second nutrient is saturated fats in the same categories of meals. Here, lowest amount of fats are typically present in breakfast shown as 16%. Lunch has 26% whereas, dinner and snack has 37% and 21% saturated fats, respectively.

The last chart illustrates the percentages of added sugar in meals in the USA on average, breakfast again has 16% of added sugars, same as saturated fats, lunch contains 19% followed by dinner which has 23% and the highest amount is present in snack as mentioned in the second paragraph.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You cover all three nutrients and all four meal categories, and the figures reported match the chart. The overview identifies the key contrasts: dinner has the largest shares of sodium and saturated fat, while snacks lead for added sugar; you also note the lowest sodium shares at breakfast and snacks. This gives the response a clear summary of the main patterns. Some comparisons could be developed more fully, however—for example, you could contrast the distribution of added sugar with the dinner-heavy pattern for the other nutrients, or compare the meal shares across all three charts. The overview also calls sodium the “highest percentage” without specifying that this refers to its dinner share, which makes the comparison slightly unclear. More precise synthesis would strengthen the report.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a coherent overall arrangement: an introduction, an overview, and separate paragraphs describing sodium, saturated fat, and added sugar. This makes the information easy to locate, and sequencing the figures by chart is a sensible approach. Cohesion is sometimes mechanical, though, with repeated openings such as “The first pie chart,” “Second nutrient,” and “The last chart.” Some references are also less clear: “as mentioned in the second paragraph” makes the reader look back rather than linking the point directly. The overview could act as a stronger organising framework if the body paragraphs were grouped around the main contrasts between meals and nutrients. Use a wider range of concise comparisons and clearer referencing to make progression more flexible.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of task-related vocabulary, including “proportion,” “typically,” “categories,” and “highest amount,” and the meaning of the data is generally clear. However, some word choices and collocations are awkward or imprecise, such as “percentage present in a meal,” “lowest present nutrient,” and “fats are typically present in breakfast.” These expressions make the report less natural, even though they do not prevent understanding. There are also spelling errors in “consititues” and “saturated fats” is repeated where “share” or “figure” could vary the wording. Aim for precise chart language such as “accounted for,” “made up,” and “the lowest proportion,” while avoiding unnecessary repetition of “present.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including the overview sentence beginning “On the other hand” and the longer sentence comparing lunch, dinner, and snacks. Most relationships between the figures remain understandable, but some grammatical errors are noticeable. For example, “The four pie charts illustrates” has subject–verb disagreement, while “snacks consititues” also uses an incorrect verb form. In “lowest amount of fats are,” the singular noun phrase conflicts with the plural verb, and “dinner and snack has” needs plural agreement. Punctuation around “whereas” is also awkward. Check agreement carefully, and use complete, controlled sentence patterns when listing several figures; this will improve accuracy without sacrificing variety.

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