Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-11-13

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 4.5)

in 1958 people had time for their families and friends to going out.they were relaxing at home. they were doing their jobs but they were happy in life and got proper sleep but as time spend in 2008 people got busier for their work got less time for their families and friends to spend. people are getting less sleep and time for their own selves

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

You identify a relevant overall contrast: adults appear to spend more time working in 2008 and less time with family and friends. However, the response only minimally summarises the charts and gives no figures to support these observations. It also says people were “happy in life” and had “proper sleep,” which the charts do not show; these are unsupported interpretations. Important changes are omitted, including the rise in commuting and relaxing at home, the fall in sleep, and the appearance of sports in 2008. The response is also 85 words below the required minimum, leaving the task substantially incomplete. To improve, write a clear overview and compare the main categories using accurate percentages.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

There is a basic attempt to organise the response chronologically, moving from 1958 to 2008, and the contrast between the two years gives the reader a general direction. However, the ideas are compressed into one continuous passage, with no clear overview or separate development of the comparisons. The transition “but as time spend in 2008” is difficult to follow, and the full stops and spacing do not reliably separate ideas. As a result, the progression is only partly clear. Use distinct sentences and paragraphs—for example, an overview followed by comparisons—and connect them with clear links such as “By contrast” or “Meanwhile.”

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

The response uses basic vocabulary relevant to the topic, including “working,” “relaxing at home,” “families and friends,” and “sleep.” These choices make the general subject understandable. However, the range is narrow and several phrases are informal, vague, or awkward for describing chart data, such as “got busier for their work” and “time for their own selves.” The wording “time for their families and friends to going out” is also unclear. More precise terms for proportions and change would help you report the information rather than speculate about people’s feelings. Practise phrases such as “the proportion spent working increased” and “time spent socialising declined.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

You attempt to express a comparison across time, but the response relies on a long, loosely connected sentence and shows limited control of sentence boundaries. For example, “but as time spend in 2008 people got busier” has an incorrect verb form and an unclear clause structure; “to going out” also does not fit the grammatical pattern. Capitalisation and punctuation are inconsistent, including the lowercase opening and missing spaces after full stops. These errors make parts of the message difficult to follow, although the broad contrast between the years can still be understood. Build shorter complete sentences first, then practise accurate past-tense forms and clauses with “while” or “whereas.”

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

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