Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-08-16

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 6.5)

The pie chart compares the proportion of time allocated by employed individuals on distinct tasks: going out with family/ friends, travelling to work, working, sleeping, and relaxing at home, in 1958 and 2008.

Overall, the working, and travelling hours of adults increased over the period as well as the time they relax at home, while the average time spent sleeping, and going out with family and friends reduced. The time for playing sports remained almost unchanged.

In 1958, working individuals spend their most of the time at work, at 33% and they allocated the lowest time of their day to travel to their work, only 2%. However, in 2008, working hours rose to 42%, and the travelling time also went up by 5%. Nevertheless, people relaxing time incresed from 8% in 1958 to 13% in 2008.

Conversely, sleeping, which consumed the highest time of the day after work, at 32% decreased by 7% in 2008.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response covers all key features of the pie charts, including the main trends and comparisons between 1958 and 2008. You successfully identified the most significant changes, such as the increase in working hours and the decrease in sleeping time. However, the report is slightly incomplete as it fails to mention 'playing sports' in the body paragraphs, despite noting it in the overview. To reach a higher band, ensure that all categories mentioned in the overview are supported by data in the body paragraphs. The data is generally accurate, though the comparison of the 5% increase in travel time is a good use of detail.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The response is logically organized with a clear introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs. You use cohesive devices such as 'However', 'Nevertheless', and 'Conversely' to signal shifts in the data. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the overview from the specific details. While the flow is generally smooth, some transitions between sentences feel slightly mechanical. To improve, ensure that the progression of ideas within paragraphs is more fluid, perhaps by grouping related categories (e.g., those that increased vs. those that decreased) more consistently throughout the analysis.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'proportion', 'allocated', and 'consumed'. There are some minor errors in word choice and spelling, such as 'people relaxing time incresed' (should be 'people's relaxation time increased') and 'spend their most of the time' (should be 'spent most of their time'). While these errors do not impede communication, they prevent the response from reaching a higher band. To improve, focus on using more precise collocations and ensure careful proofreading to eliminate basic spelling mistakes.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, which is appropriate for this task. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'working individuals spend their most of the time' (tense inconsistency) and 'the travelling time also went up by 5%' (which is slightly ambiguous in context). Additionally, there are minor punctuation and article errors throughout. While these errors do not cause difficulty for the reader, they are frequent enough to limit the score. Increasing the variety of complex structures while maintaining accuracy would help raise your score in this criterion.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.