Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-08-23

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 pie charts illustrates how adults have worked in their country and spent time in a 50 year period starting in1958. Overall, working time has increased in this period and time sleep has slightly decreased.but relaxing time has seen a steady increase.

From the charts it is undeniably noticeable that going out with friends and family has significantly reduced by 13% while relaxing at home time has experienced an increase of 5%. Playing sports has also seen a slight increase as well as traveling to work time which has grown from 2%to 7%.

Sleeping time has reduced overtime, from 32% to 25% whilst working time has has rapidly increased from 33% to 42%. All in all most of the work activities take the highest percentage than relaxing time.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 150 words, which significantly impacts the development of the task. While you have identified some key features, such as the increase in working time and the decrease in sleeping time, the analysis is quite brief. You have attempted to report data, but the lack of length prevents a fully developed overview and detailed comparison. To improve, ensure you provide a more comprehensive breakdown of all categories shown in the charts and extend your analysis of the trends to meet the required length, which will allow for a more thorough response to the prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organised into three short paragraphs, which is a logical structure for this task. However, the use of cohesive devices is somewhat limited and occasionally mechanical. For example, the transition between sentences could be smoother; phrases like 'All in all' are used, but the overall flow is hindered by the brevity of the text. To improve, try to use a wider range of linking words and ensure that each paragraph has a clear focus, connecting ideas more fluidly to guide the reader through your comparison of the two years.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You have used some appropriate vocabulary for describing trends, such as 'significantly reduced', 'steady increase', and 'rapidly increased'. However, the range is somewhat limited, and there are minor errors in word choice and phrasing, such as 'time sleep' instead of 'time spent sleeping'. The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the sophistication or variety required for higher bands. Expanding your repertoire of synonyms for describing data changes (e.g., 'surged', 'plummeted', 'marginal') would help improve your score in this criterion.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('The pie charts illustrates') and punctuation errors (missing spaces after periods, e.g., 'decreased.but'). Additionally, there is a repetition of the word 'has' in 'working time has has rapidly increased'. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to affect the overall clarity. Focusing on proofreading for basic subject-verb agreement and punctuation will help improve your accuracy.

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

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