Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-09-16

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 5.0)

the pie charts illustrates how working individuals spend their total time.

overall, working and sleeping dominates in both years by working adults, while the spend least amount of time to explore the world.

firstly, people spend most of the working sleeping at home and going out with friends and family by 33%, 32%,and 19% respectively in 1958

secondly, in 2008 individuals increase their time at work about 44% and the second most thing they send their time is sleeping spending time with friends and family, decreases considerably , while they spend some extra time at travelling as compare to the adults in 1958.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.5

The student attempts to summarise the pie charts by mentioning several main features such as working, sleeping, and socialising. However, the response fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 150 words, standing at only 103 words, which heavily impacts Task Achievement. Furthermore, there are several inaccurate data points reported, such as stating that people spend time working and sleeping at home by 33% and 32% collectively in a confusing list, and misstating the 2008 working figure as 44% instead of 42%. The overview is basic, noting that working and sleeping dominate, but overall development is limited and truncated due to length constraints, warranting a Band 4.5 score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The text is divided into four very short sentences acting as paragraphs/blocks of text, lacking proper essay structure. There is an attempt to use sequencing markers such as 'overall', 'firstly', and 'secondly', but the internal logical progression within sentences is frequently broken. For instance, the sentence starting with 'firstly, people spend most of the working sleeping at home...' runs multiple ideas together clumsily without clear cohesion. Paragraphing is inadequate, and referencing is often unclear, resulting in a disjointed reading experience that aligns with Band 5.0 descriptors.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates a very limited lexical range. While basic vocabulary related to the task topic is present ('working', 'sleeping', 'friends and family'), there are frequent word choice errors and awkward collocations, such as 'explore the world' to describe activities like sports or going out, and 'second most thing they send their time' where 'send' is misused for 'spend'. Spelling and word form errors are noticeable. The vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey a basic topic, but inaccuracies occasionally cause difficulty for the reader, placing it at a Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.5

The grammatical range is extremely limited, consisting mostly of simple and poorly controlled complex sentence attempts. There are frequent grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('the pie charts illustrates'), missing prepositions, and run-on structures without correct punctuation (e.g., missing periods and commas used incorrectly). The sentence 'individuals increase their time at work about 44% and the second most thing they send their time is sleeping spending time with friends and family, decreases considerably' exhibits severe structural breakdown. These frequent errors cause difficulty for the reader, reflecting Band 4.5.

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

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