Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-08-14
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 5.5)
The provided pie chat illustrates the information about adults in a country utilize their time in percentage on many activities in year 1958 and in 2008.
Overall, most of the adults spent their time working in both years, however in former year travelling to work was the least activity.
Work was the category in which most of the time people spend in both years 33% in 1958 and it incline in 2008 and noticed 42%. 32% of time in initial year people spend in sleeping which decreases 7% in latter year at 25%. In addition Relaxing at home was 8% which inclined and reached 13%.
Moving further, spending time with family and friends while going out was quite popular in 1958 nearly 19% of time people spent with them, which reduced after decades and remain only 6%. In 1958 and 2008 sports playing remain same at 7% in both years. Travelling to work was least in all activities at 2% in 1958, by the time it inclined and reach 7% in year 2008.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response covers the main features of the pie charts and makes relevant comparisons between 1958 and 2008. You successfully identified the most significant trends, such as the increase in work time and the decrease in time spent with family. However, the report lacks a clear, distinct overview paragraph; the current overview is embedded within the introduction and is somewhat brief. To reach a higher band, ensure you provide a clear summary of the most striking trends in a separate paragraph immediately following the introduction. While you included data points, some of the descriptions of the changes are slightly repetitive in structure.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response is organized into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the information. You use some cohesive devices like 'In addition', 'Moving further', and 'however' to link ideas. However, the flow is occasionally mechanical, and some transitions feel forced. The referencing is sometimes unclear, such as in the phrase 'in former year', which should be 'in the former year'. The logical progression is generally sound, but the connection between sentences could be smoother to improve the overall readability and coherence of the report.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'illustrates', 'category', and 'inclined'. However, there are several instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors, such as 'least activity' instead of 'least time-consuming activity' and 'by the time it inclined' instead of 'over time, it increased'. There are also minor grammatical errors affecting word form, such as 'sports playing' instead of 'playing sports'. To improve, focus on using more precise collocations and varied verbs to describe trends, such as 'rose', 'declined', or 'remained stable'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The response uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with articles ('in year 1958'), verb tenses ('people spend' instead of 'people spent'), and prepositions ('at 25%' instead of 'to 25%'). Some sentences are slightly disjointed due to these errors. To achieve a higher score, work on subject-verb agreement and the consistent use of past tense when describing historical data. Increasing the variety of complex structures while ensuring they are error-free will also help improve your score.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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