Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-19

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 4.5)

The three pie charts illustrated the proportion of sodium, saturated fat, and added suger usage in different meals taken in the USA.

In pie chart, sodium made up the biggest consumption in breakfast, at 43%, which was more than double the figure for lunch at 29%. Breakfast stood at the largest sector in all pie charts. In dinner, the proportion for saturated fats fell to 37%, while lunch dropped slightly to 26%. Sodium and saturated fats uses rise marginally from 14% to 16% in breakfast.

The most dramatic change was seen in the consumption of sodium and added suger which increased sharply from 14% to 42% in lunch. In contrast breakfast had the lowest consumed in declining which was 16% and same in saturated fats and added suger. The proportion of sodium roughly equal in dinner and snacks which were consumed by people in USA.

Overall, dinner took up the largest amount of sodium and saturated fats while breakfast accounted for the smallest portion in added suger.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.5

You identify the three nutrients and make some relevant comparisons, including dinner’s high shares of sodium and saturated fat. However, several key figures and meal labels are confused: sodium is highest at dinner (43%), not breakfast, and breakfast is not the largest sector across the charts. The statement that sodium and added sugar rise from 14% to 42% “in lunch” is inaccurate: these figures refer to different nutrients and meals, with added sugar highest in snacks at 42%. Your overview also says breakfast has the smallest added-sugar share, although it is tied with saturated fat at 16%, while snacks have the smallest sodium share jointly with breakfast. Select the main patterns accurately and support them with correctly matched figures.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

The response has a basic structure, moving from an introduction to comparisons and then an overall statement. Some linking expressions, such as “In contrast” and “Overall,” help signal relationships. However, the progression is difficult to follow because comparisons shift between nutrients and meals without consistently identifying what each figure refers to. For example, “increased sharply from 14% to 42% in lunch” combines values that belong to different categories, and the sentence about breakfast’s lowest consumption is unclear. The overview comes at the end and does not reliably summarise the charts. Organise the body by clear patterns—such as dinner’s high sodium and fat shares and snacks’ high added sugar—and use explicit references to each meal and nutrient.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some task-relevant vocabulary, including “proportion,” “consumption,” “largest sector,” and “in contrast,” and the reader can generally recognise that you are describing chart data. However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or awkward, such as “suger usage,” “biggest consumption,” and “breakfast had the lowest consumed.” Repetition of “proportion” and “consumption” also limits flexibility. Spelling errors in “suger” recur and reduce precision. Aim for standard chart language such as “accounted for,” “share,” and “percentage,” while ensuring that the chosen noun fits the sentence. More precise vocabulary would make your comparisons clearer without requiring unusually advanced words.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mixture of simple and longer sentences, and some basic structures communicate the intended comparison. However, control is uneven, particularly in longer sentences. For example, “In contrast breakfast had the lowest consumed in declining” lacks a clear grammatical structure, while “Sodium and saturated fats uses rise” has a subject–verb agreement error and an inconsistent tense. Articles and sentence framing are also sometimes missing, as in “In pie chart.” These problems make several comparisons difficult to interpret. Practise building complete sentences with a clear subject and verb, and check agreement and tense. For instance, use a consistent past-tense reporting frame such as “Dinner accounted for 43% of sodium.”

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

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