Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-16

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)

This pie chart illustrates the average proportion of sodium, saturated fat and sugar which consume in typical meal of USA.

Overall, maximum porportion of sodium that is 43%, 37% saturated fat and 23% sugar is consumed in dinner. whereas In lunch time moderate amount of unhealthy nutrients intake while breakfast shows minimum amount of unhealthy nutrients intake in USA. However snacks shows significant changes like maximum number of suger consume that is 42% and than 21% fat, 14% sodium intake.

Dinner contribute the highest amount of sodium at 43% followed by lunch at 29%. While lunch and breakfast followed at 14%. A similar pattern can shown in saturated fat and dinner contribute the highest amount of fat at 37% whereas lunch followed at 26%. Snacks followed at 21% while breakfast shows 16%.

In Contrast, sugar shows big changes as compared to sodium and fat. snacks contributes high porportion of sugar at 42%. dinner contributes 23% whereas breakfast at 16% and lunch followed at 19%. Overall dinner contributes highest porportion of sodium and saturated fat whereas sugar contributes highest porportion of sugar.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You identify the main contrasts accurately: dinner has the highest shares of sodium and saturated fat, while snacks lead for added sugar. The figures you give for these key features match the chart, and you also include comparisons across meals. This meets the task well, with some overview and relevant detail. To make the summary more complete and precise, clarify that breakfast and snacks tie for the lowest sodium share at 14%; the sentence “While lunch and breakfast followed at 14%” is unclear and omits snacks. Also, the overview’s claim that breakfast shows the minimum intake is too broad, since it is not the lowest for every nutrient. A more carefully qualified overview and clearer reporting of the sodium figures would strengthen the response further.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, moving from an introduction and overview to details about sodium and fat, then added sugar. This gives the reader a general route through the information. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes difficult to follow: “While lunch and breakfast followed at 14%” does not clearly connect the meals to the sodium figures, and the final sentence repeats the overview rather than adding a useful concluding point. Linking words such as “whereas,” “however” and “in contrast” are attempted, but some are awkwardly placed or capitalised, and “followed” is repeated without always making the comparison clear. Grouping the data more consistently and using precise references to each meal would improve cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant chart vocabulary, including “proportion,” “intake,” “contribute” and “followed by,” and the reader can generally understand the comparisons. However, the range is limited and several word-choice or spelling problems reduce precision: “porportion,” “suger,” and “maximum number of sugar consume” are noticeable, while “big changes” is too informal and vague for an academic summary. “Unhealthy nutrients” also overgeneralises the chart’s categories. Aim for accurate forms and more natural collocations, such as “share of added sugar” and “accounted for.” Avoid repeating “highest proportion” when a more specific description can convey the comparison. These improvements would make the vocabulary more controlled and appropriate to the task.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including comparisons with “whereas” and “while,” and the main message is usually recoverable. However, errors in sentence construction and punctuation are frequent enough to make some relationships unclear. For example, “This pie chart illustrates the average proportion … which consume” lacks a clear grammatical subject, and “Overall, maximum porportion … is consumed in dinner. whereas In lunch time…” contains a sentence break and clause-joining problems. There are also issues with articles and agreement, as in “Dinner contribute” and “snacks contributes.” Practise building complete sentences around a clear subject and verb, and check capitalisation and punctuation at sentence boundaries. More accurate control of these patterns is needed.

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