Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-11-09

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The pie charts below show how working adults in a particular country spent their time in 1958 and 2008.

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

* Note: these aren’t the original diagrams given in the test, they were recreated for the purpose of demonstration.

Student answer (Band 5.0)

The pie charts illustrate the percentages of the day spent by working adults on various activities in two years 1958 and 2008.

Overall, it is clear that the proportion of time spent on working increased, whereas the time spent on sleeping and going out with friends and family decreased.

In 1958, a large proportion of time spent on working and sleeping, 33% and 32%, respectively. Meanwhile,19% individuals interseted to hang out with friends or family, relaxing at home followed by 8%. Least number of people travel to work, only 2%.

In 2008, working bacame the most time consuming

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

You identify the topic and give a relevant overview, noting that working increased while sleeping and socialising decreased. The figures you report for 1958—33% for work, 32% for sleep, 19% for going out, 8% for relaxing and 2% for commuting—match the chart. However, the response stops partway through the 2008 description, so it omits most of the key comparisons, including the 42% share for work, the fall in sleep to 25%, and the rise in commuting and home relaxation. The 2008 sports category is also not covered. The response is 98 words, below the required 150, which contributes to the limited coverage. Complete the comparison and include the main 2008 figures.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic, sensible structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate paragraphs for the two years. The overview also gives the reader a useful direction for the comparison. However, the final paragraph ends abruptly at “working became the most time consuming,” leaving the sequence of information incomplete and preventing a clear progression through the 2008 data. Within the 1958 paragraph, “Meanwhile” and “followed by” help connect details, but the relationships between categories could be expressed more clearly and consistently. Develop the final paragraph and use a clear order for comparing the largest shares, decreases, and smaller categories; this would make the organisation more complete and easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for describing charts, including “percentages,” “proportion,” “increased,” and “decreased,” and the meaning is generally understandable. There is some variation in how activities are described, such as “going out with friends and family” and “hang out.” However, several word-choice, spelling, and collocation problems reduce precision: “individuals interseted to hang out” is not a natural way to describe a share of time, and “Least number of people travel to work” confuses the number of people with the percentage of time. “Time consuming” is also not the right expression for the largest time allocation. Use accurate chart language such as “accounted for,” “share of the day,” and “the largest proportion.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response includes some sentence variety, including the overview’s contrast between what “increased” and “decreased,” and most of the intended meaning can be understood. However, errors occur in basic sentence construction and verb forms. “In 1958, a large proportion of time spent on working and sleeping” is a sentence fragment; it needs a verb, such as “Working and sleeping accounted for…”. The phrase “19% individuals…” also lacks a grammatical link between the percentage and the people, while “Least number of people travel” has an incorrect structure and tense for reporting chart data. There is also missing spacing after the comma in “Meanwhile,19%.” Build complete sentences with clear subjects and verbs, and check articles, prepositions, and punctuation.

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

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