Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-09-18
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 pie chart illustrates various activities working adults spend their time on, in a day. Comparing between the year 1958 and 2008.
Overall, most of their time is spent on working, both the years. Till 2008 people started giving attention to playing sports and relaxation rather then working.
First and foremost, adults started giving more attention to working by increasing it from 33% of the day to 42%. The increased working time lead to reduced sleeping time with a drop of 7%. Instead of sleeping adults started relaxing at home, earlier they only spent 8% but they increased it by 5%.
The working adults used to spare 19% time of the day for going out with their family in 1958 but after 50 years the working adults spend only their 6% time of the day. The travelling time to the work also increased by 5% and now it requires 7% time of the day, just for travelling to work. The working adults have increased their time spending on playing sports.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The student attempts to address the task by comparing the two pie charts representing working adults' time allocation in 1958 and 2008. An overview is attempted, noting that working is the primary activity in both years, though the phrasing 'Till 2008 people started giving attention...' is somewhat confused. Key data points from the visual data are reported, such as working increasing from 33% to 42%, sleeping dropping by 7%, relaxing at home rising by 5%, and family time dropping from 19% to 6%. However, there are minor inaccuracies in interpretation and some features are under-developed. The response meets the minimum length requirement, and the main trends are generally captured, placing it within the Band 5.5 to 6 range.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The response exhibits a basic coherent overall arrangement, but paragraphing is problematic. The text is broken into short, choppy paragraphs that do not logically group related ideas. Cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or awkwardly used, such as 'First and foremost' followed by a somewhat repetitive sequence of ideas. Referencing between sentences is occasionally unclear, particularly in the concluding sentence which simply tacks on playing sports without proper integration. Overall organisation lacks a smooth progression, fitting the Band 5 descriptors.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with some attempts at less common phrasing such as 'spare time', 'travelling time', and 'playing sports'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'spend their time on, in a day. Comparing between the year...', 'giving attention to working by increasing it', and 'time spending'. Spelling is generally acceptable, but the limited control over lexical collocation and repetitive use of basic terms keeps this at Band 5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over grammar is inconsistent. There are several grammatical errors and awkward phrasing, such as 'Comparing between the year 1958 and 2008' (sentence fragment), 'The increased working time lead to reduced sleeping time' (tense/agreement error), and 'adults started relaxing at home, earlier they only spent...' (comma splice). While communication is not severely impeded, the frequency of errors in complex structures places this performance at Band 5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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