Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-09-23

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 illustrate the percentages of the day spent by working adults on different activities in a particular country from 1958 to 2008.

Overall, workers have been doing more work than the past while sleeping less than them. Furthermore, traveling to work also raised than the past.

In 1958, workers spend most time to went out with family members or close friends is 19%. But in 2008, this activity experienced a great declined and reached to 7 percent. Playing sports remained same in both time frames. They had done less work in 1958 which is just 33 percent while it rose up to 42% in 2008. In 2008, they spend most of the time in home for relaxed is 13% than the 2008 which is 8%.

The workers have been sleeping is 32 percent in 1958, which is became less in 2008 and reached to 25 percent. They just traveled 2 percent for the work in past which is gradually rise up to 7 percent in 2008.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The student attempts to cover the main features of the two pie charts by identifying working, sleeping, and traveling changes. However, there are significant factual inaccuracies in data reporting. For instance, the student states that in 1958 workers spent most of their time going out with family and friends (19%), whereas working actually took 33% and sleeping took 32% (which were clearly the largest segments). Furthermore, the data comparisons are confusingly phrased, such as 'In 2008, they spend most of the time in home for relaxed is 13% than the 2008 which is 8%', which misrepresents the years. While an overview is attempted, the inaccurate data extraction and failure to accurately report the dominant categories pull the response down.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response is divided into logical paragraphs, starting with an introduction, followed by an overview, and then body paragraphs detailing specific activities. However, the progression and logical flow are frequently hindered by poor cohesive devices and awkward referencing. For example, expressions like 'more work than the past while sleeping less than them' use pronouns that lack clear antecedents. Cohesive devices are either missing or used inaccurately, resulting in disjointed sentences that require the reader to work hard to follow the comparisons between 1958 and 2008.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is very basic and repetitive. Phrases such as 'great declined', 'reached to', and 'spent most time to went out' show a lack of lexical control. The student attempts some less common vocabulary items like 'experienced a great declined', but these attempts are marred by severe morphological and grammatical errors. Word choices are often unnatural or imprecise for describing statistical data, indicating a limited range that is barely adequate for the task.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The grammatical range is extremely limited, consisting mostly of simple and heavily flawed complex sentences. There are frequent and intrusive grammatical errors throughout the text, such as tense confusion ('workers spend most time to went out', 'traveling to work also raised', 'which is became less'). Subject-verb agreements and preposition usage are also problematic (e.g., 'spend most of the time in home for relaxed'). These frequent errors cause considerable difficulty for the reader and prevent the response from achieving a higher band score.

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

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