Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 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.

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The pie charts illustrates the average proportion in daily meals of different types of nutrients including sodium, saturated fat and added sugar in USA mostly in breakfast ,dinner ,lunch and snacks.

Overall, it is clearly noticable that dinner covered major portion of all nutrients while breakfast consumption is at lowest . Lunch experienced decent consumption. Snacks covers huge part in added sugar but steady in other nutrients.

In USA, mostly people consume 43% ,37%,23% of sodium,saturated fat ,added sugar in dinner which is huge part among all charts. In breakfast ,nutrients include sodium,saturated fat ,added sugar consumption around 14%,16%,16% .

Snacks covers huge propotion in added sugar around 42% and 21%,14% in saturated fat,sodium which is not too much but enough. Lunch faced decent 29% of sodium and 26% saturated fat and only 19% added sugar.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main pattern that dinner has the highest shares of sodium and saturated fat, while snacks lead in added sugar, and you include figures for all four meal types. This gives the reader a relevant overview and generally accurate coverage. However, the overview says breakfast is lowest for all nutrients, although snacks have the same sodium share as breakfast, and “Lunch experienced decent consumption” is vague rather than a clear comparison. The response also falls 14 words short of the required minimum, limiting the opportunity to develop the comparisons. To strengthen the report, state the key exceptions precisely and compare the meal categories more explicitly, rather than relying on general phrases such as “huge part” and “decent consumption.”

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and paragraphs reporting the figures. The overview also helps signal the main trends before the details. However, the final paragraph moves through dinner, breakfast, snacks and lunch without a consistent comparison pattern, so the progression feels somewhat list-like. Linking is limited, and phrases such as “In USA” and “In breakfast” do not clearly connect the data to the preceding points. Organise the details in a more deliberate way—for example, compare dinner and lunch first, then breakfast and snacks—and use clear references such as “By contrast” or “Meanwhile” where they genuinely show a relationship. This would make the report easier to follow without adding unnecessary linking words.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “sodium,” “saturated fat,” “added sugar,” “proportion” and “consumption,” so the subject is clear. There are also attempts to vary expression, such as “covered major portion” and “huge part.” However, several choices are imprecise or unnatural for describing chart data: “decent consumption,” “faced decent” and “covers huge proportion” do not communicate comparisons precisely. Spelling errors such as “noticable” and “propotion” also reduce accuracy, while repeated use of “huge” limits range. Choose neutral reporting language such as “accounted for,” “share” and “highest,” and check spelling and collocations carefully. This would make the vocabulary more precise and appropriate to an academic report.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple statements and more developed sentences, and the overall meaning is usually understandable. However, errors in agreement, articles and sentence construction are evident. For example, “The pie charts illustrates” should use a plural verb, while “in USA” and “in breakfast” need more accurate article or preposition patterns. The sentence “Snacks covers huge part in added sugar but steady in other nutrients” is incomplete in its second clause, and the opening sentence has an awkwardly assembled list of meal types. Commas and spaces around punctuation are also inconsistent. Practise accurate subject–verb agreement and complete clauses, then use a few controlled complex sentences to compare categories. These changes would improve clarity while retaining your current range of sentence forms.

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