Band 7.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-08-26

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 7.5)

The pie charts illustrate the proportion of time spent by employed adults in a day in a particular country during 1958 and 2008.

Overall, working accounted for the largest proportion of the day in both 1958 and 2008, with time spent on sports constituting the smallest share in both the years. While time taken to travel to work and relaxing at home increased over the years, the time provided to stepping out with friends and family and sleeping decreased.

In 1958, working and sleeping accounted for more than three-fifth of the time in a day at 33% and 32% respectively. In the remaining time, people preferred going out with relatives and friends, consuming 19% of the time in a day with sports being an even less chosen activity accounting for 6% of the day. Travelling, on the contrast, required only 2% of the day.

As for 2008, a greater proportion of time was spent working, increasing from 33% to 42% over half a century. Likewise, other activities witnessed an increase, with time spent on travelling to work more than tripling to 7% and leisure time at home witnessing a rise to 13%. By contrast, time consumed by activities like sleeping and public outings with friends and family declined considerably with the former reduced to 25% and the latter witnessing a steep drop to 6%. Sports activities more or less remained stable at around 7%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.5

You have successfully addressed all parts of the task by identifying the main features and making relevant comparisons between 1958 and 2008. Your overview clearly highlights the key trends, such as the increase in working hours and the decrease in time spent with friends and family. You have effectively selected and reported data to support your points, such as the tripling of travel time and the specific percentages for work. The response is well-structured and covers the requirements of the prompt comprehensively, providing a clear and accurate summary of the provided data.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.5

The response is logically organized, with a clear introduction, overview, and two body paragraphs that group information by year. Cohesive devices are used effectively to link ideas, such as 'While', 'Likewise', and 'By contrast'. The progression of ideas is smooth, and the paragraphing is appropriate for the task. Each sentence follows logically from the previous one, ensuring the reader can easily follow the comparison of data between the two time periods. The use of referencing is clear, and the overall structure is coherent throughout.

Lexical Resource — Band 7.0

You demonstrate a good range of vocabulary appropriate for a data-description task. Phrases like 'proportion of time', 'witnessed an increase', and 'steep drop' are used accurately. There is a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey precise meaning, and you avoid repetitive phrasing. While the vocabulary is functional and accurate, incorporating a few more sophisticated collocations or topic-specific synonyms could elevate the response further. Overall, the lexical control is strong, and there are no errors that impede communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.0

You show a good command of complex sentence structures, such as the use of subordinate clauses ('While time taken to travel... increased... the time provided to... decreased'). The majority of your sentences are error-free, and your control over punctuation and tense usage is consistent. There are very few minor slips, such as 'in both the years' (which should be 'in both years'), but these do not detract from the clarity of your writing. You successfully use a mix of simple and complex structures to present the data effectively.

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

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