Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-08-25

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 given pie chart illustrates about the period of time spent by working people on various activities in a specific country between 1958 to 2008.

Overall, some activities such as sleeping and working remained somewhat constatnt and showed the greatest interest of people throughout the period of 50 years while other activities like going out with friends or family, relaxing at home and travelling to work had went through fluctuations over the period.

In the year 1958, working and sleeping are the activities which were overpowering throughout the year and these were 33% and 32% respectively. People don't like travelling to work and playing sport as it was only 2% and 7% repectively. However, going out with friends and family was also seen as important part of the youngs' lives and it was 19%.

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 ability to fully develop the response. While you have identified some main features, the analysis is incomplete. You have not provided a comprehensive comparison between 1958 and 2008, and several categories from the charts are omitted entirely. The overview is present but lacks the depth required to highlight the most significant trends across the two time periods. To improve, ensure you cover all data categories and provide a more thorough comparison of the shifts in time allocation, ensuring the response reaches the required length.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into an introduction, an overview, and one body paragraph. While there is a logical progression, the lack of a second body paragraph makes the structure feel underdeveloped. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'In the year 1958' and 'However', but the transition between ideas is somewhat mechanical. The paragraphing is insufficient for a task of this nature, and the overall flow is hindered by the brevity of the text. To improve, use more varied linking words and structure your response into clear, distinct paragraphs that group related data points together.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, but it is somewhat repetitive and lacks precision. Phrases like 'overpowering' and 'greatest interest' are not the most accurate ways to describe statistical data in a pie chart. There are also minor errors in word choice, such as 'constatnt' (spelling) and 'youngs' lives' (awkward phrasing). To reach a higher band, you should incorporate more precise academic vocabulary related to trends and data, such as 'predominant', 'fluctuated', or 'remained stable', and ensure you are using collocations correctly to describe statistical changes.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. For example, 'had went through' is an incorrect tense usage, and 'sleeping are the activities which were' shows a lack of tense consistency. Additionally, there are punctuation and spelling errors, such as 'repectively'. While the meaning is generally clear, the frequency of these errors limits the score. Focus on mastering basic tense consistency and proofreading for common grammatical slips to improve your accuracy.

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

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