Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-09-05
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 charts compares the proportion of the time utilised by working people in a specific country over the gap of fifty-years period.
Overall, the working hours increase and the sleeping time decrease significantly while the outing time with frieds and family is divided between travelling to work and sports.
On one hand, in 1958, people used to work and rest approximately one-third proportion of their whole day on each and spent rest of their day on going out with frinds and family and only two percent of their whole day was used on travelling to work. They spend 8 percent for relaxtion at home.
On the other hand, in 2006, the working hours increase reached to 42 percent and sleeping time reduced to the one fouth of the whole day. It is also notable people spend only 6 percent with family and friends and spend more time while relaxing at home. The travelling time to work has increased by 4 percent and new habit of playing sports took 7 percent of their whole day.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response covers the main features of the charts, but there are significant inaccuracies in the data reporting. For example, you state that sleeping time decreased to 'one fourth' (25%) in 2008, whereas the chart shows it remained at 33%. Additionally, you mention 2006, but the prompt specifies 2008. While you identify key trends like the increase in working hours, the misinterpretation of the data points prevents a higher score. To improve, ensure you carefully transcribe figures and dates from the visual aid to your text, as accuracy is paramount in Task 1.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, with an introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs. You use basic cohesive devices such as 'On one hand' and 'On the other hand' to signal shifts in focus. However, the progression of ideas is sometimes hindered by the inaccurate data reporting. The use of referencing is generally clear, but the overall flow could be improved by using more sophisticated linking words to connect the comparisons between the two years more fluidly rather than just listing the data points.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'proportion', 'utilised', and 'significant'. However, there are several spelling errors ('frieds', 'frinds', 'relaxtion', 'fouth') and some awkward collocations, such as 'working hours increase reached to'. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to limit the score. To reach a higher band, focus on proofreading for spelling and using more precise collocations when describing trends, such as 'a rise in working hours' rather than 'working hours increase'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The response uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with verb tenses and subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'The provided pie charts compares', 'the working hours increase', 'people spend only 6 percent'). These errors are noticeable and sometimes distract from the clarity of the information. You should work on ensuring consistent tense usage when describing past data and pay closer attention to basic grammatical rules like pluralization and verb forms to improve the accuracy of your writing.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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