Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-09-26
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 charts illustrate the average percentage of the day spent by working adults in 1958 and 2008 on five activities.
Overall, working and sleeping accounts for the largest proportion of the day, while travelling to work and going out with friends contribute the smallest percentage overall the day.
Regarding 1958, people spent most of their day working and sleeping, making the largest proportion at 33% and 32%, followed by going out with friends and relaxing at home each account for just 19% and 8%. only 2% of people spent their day while travelling to work.
Meanwhile, in 2008 a similar pattern can be seen for working and sleeping again making up the largest share at 42% and 25%. While going out with friends dropped to 6% and more people liked to relax at home. Playing sports contributed 7%. Travelling to work slightly rose from 2% to 7%,
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response covers all the main features of the two pie charts, successfully highlighting the key activities such as working, sleeping, and relaxing, and making relevant comparisons between 1958 and 2008. The overview correctly identifies that working and sleeping dominated both years. However, there are a few inaccuracies in data reporting; for instance, the text states that going out with friends and relaxing at home in 1958 were 'each account for just 19% and 8%', which is slightly imprecise. Furthermore, the response falls just short of the 150-word minimum, containing 148 words. This length penalty prevents the score from reaching a higher band, resulting in an overall Task Achievement score of 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The response has a clear overall progression and is divided into logical paragraphs covering the introduction, overview, and specific details for each year. Cohesive devices are used to connect ideas, such as 'Overall', 'Regarding 1958', and 'Meanwhile, in 2008'. However, referencing and cohesion are occasionally faulty, seen in awkward phrasings like 'contribute the smallest percentage overall the day' and repetitive sentence structures when introducing data points. Paragraphing is adequate, but more varied transitional phrases would improve the flow of the writing. These minor limitations place the response comfortably within the Band 6 descriptor.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, including terms such as 'proportion', 'contribute', 'pattern', and 'rose'. However, there are notable word choice and grammatical collocation errors, such as 'working and sleeping accounts' (plural subject with singular verb), 'each account for', and 'spent their day while travelling to work'. Attempts at less common vocabulary are somewhat restricted, and lexical control is inconsistent. Despite these flaws, the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the main message clearly without impeding the reader's understanding, earning a Band 6.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'The pie charts illustrate...' and 'While going out with friends dropped to 6%...'. There are several grammatical errors and punctuation slips throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('accounts' instead of 'account'), missing articles, and dangling modifiers ('spent their day while travelling'). Commas are sometimes misused or omitted, particularly in compound sentences. Nevertheless, the majority of simple sentences are accurate, and the errors do not impede communication, matching the criteria for a Band 6.0.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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