Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-09-22

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 two circular diagram compare the proportion pf the day spent by working adults on various activities in 1958 and 2008.

Overall, working accounted for the largest proportion in both year, although its share increased , whereas sleeping increased markedly and almost reached the same level as working. The other four activities recorded relatively smaller dhare, with only modest change over the period.

In 1958, working accounted for nearly 33% standing 3 percentage points above sleeping, while going out with friends or family comprised only 19%. By comparison, the remaining three categories, travelling to work, relaxing at home and playing sports considerably smaller proportion at 2%, 8% and 75 respectively.

By 2008, however, the working share had climbed to around 42% narrowing the gap with sleeping whose proportrion fell about 25%. Meanwhile, the relaxing at home figure edged up to approsimately rose 13% and that for travelling to work rose to around 7%. In contrast, the playing sports remained unchanged at exactly 7%, meaning this catodory continued to contribute the smallest share.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student successfully addresses all parts of the task by selecting and reporting the main features of the pie charts for both 1958 and 2008. An overview is provided in the second paragraph, capturing the key trends such as the dominance of working and the increase in sleeping time, though there is a minor contradiction in the overview where the student states sleeping 'increased markedly' when the data shows it decreased from 32% to 25%. Despite this factual slip regarding the sleeping trend, the rest of the key data points are appropriately reported, including comparisons between categories and years. To reach a higher band, greater accuracy in reporting all major trends without contradicting the visual data is required.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is organized into four distinct paragraphs, following a logical structure with an introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs detailing specific years. Cohesive devices are used to connect ideas, such as 'Overall', 'In 1958', 'By comparison', and 'By 2008, however'. However, paragraphing and referencing occasionally suffer from minor mechanical flaws, and some sentences feel slightly disjointed due to phrasing issues. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate the introduction, overview, and body details, maintaining a clear overall progression throughout the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common items such as 'proportion', 'accounted for', 'narrowing the gap', and 'edged up'. However, there are several lexical errors, typos, and awkward collocations throughout the text. Examples include 'circular diagram' instead of 'diagrams', 'dhare' instead of 'share', 'proportrion', 'approsimately rose', and 'catodory' instead of 'category'. Furthermore, the phrase 'playing sports remained unchanged at exactly 7%' misuses the verb when referring to a static proportion. These errors reflect a Band 6 level where vocabulary is adequate but spelling and word choice inaccuracies are noticeable.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and subordinate structures like 'although its share increased' and 'narrowing the gap with sleeping whose proportrion fell about 25%'. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several noticeable errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('The two circular diagram compare'), missing prepositions or incorrect numbers ('comprised only 19%', '75 respectively'), and awkward syntax ('the relaxing at home figure edged up to approsimately rose 13%'). These errors occasionally cause slight strain for the reader, aligning the response with Band 6 descriptors where some structures are controlled but frequent minor errors persist.

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

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