Band 8.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 8.0 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-09-15

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 8.0)

The two pie charts illustrate how employed adults in a given nation allocated their daily time across six different activities in 1958 and 2008.

Overall, the most significant shifts over the 50-year period were a substantial increase in time spent working and relaxing at home, contrasted with a marked decline in sleep and outdoor socializing. Working consistently consumed the largest share of time in both years, while commuting experienced a sharp proportional rise.

In 1958, working and sleeping accounted for the vast majority of an adult's day, at 33% and 32% respectively. By 2008, time dedicated to employment expanded by 9 percentage points to reach 42%, making it by far the dominant activity. Conversely, sleep dropped by 7 percentage points to 25%. Meanwhile, time spent relaxing at home nearly doubled, rising from 8% in 1958 to 13% in 2008.

Regarding social and outdoor activities, going out with friends and family registered a sharp decline, plunging from 19%—the third largest share in 1958—to just 6% in 2008. In contrast, travelling to work increased more than threefold, escalating from 2% to 7%. Time allocated to playing sports remained almost unchanged, rising minimally from 6% to 7% over the half-century period.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 8.5

The response fully satisfies the requirements of Academic Writing Task 1. The student provides a clear, well-developed overview outlining the most significant trends across the 50-year period, such as the increase in working and relaxing at home alongside decreases in sleep and socializing. All key data points are accurately reported and compared against the visual data (e.g., working increasing from 33% to 42%, and travelling to work rising from 2% to 7%). Data selection is precise, and the relationships between categories are effectively highlighted without any irrelevant information or misinterpretations.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.5

The essay displays a logical and fluent progression throughout. Information is organized with an effective introductory overview, followed by well-structured body paragraphs that logically group data (e.g., core activities versus social/outdoor activities). Cohesive devices such as 'Conversely', 'Meanwhile', and 'Regarding' are used naturally and unobtrusively. Paragraphing is skilfully managed, ensuring each paragraph has a clear central topic.

Lexical Resource — Band 7.5

The vocabulary used is wide-ranging, precise, and entirely appropriate for an academic report. The student successfully incorporates less common lexical items and collocations with high accuracy, such as 'substantial increase', 'marked decline', 'proportional rise', and 'vast majority'. Word choices are varied and sophisticated, demonstrating a flexible control of language with no noticeable inaccuracies.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.5

The response exhibits a wide variety of complex sentence structures used with a high degree of accuracy. The majority of sentences are error-free, featuring sophisticated syntactic constructions such as participial phrases ('contrasted with a marked decline') and dependent clauses. Control of punctuation, tense consistency, and grammatical agreements is excellent, with only rare, negligible flaws.

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.