Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-09-27

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 are two pie charts illustrates the proportion of hoe adults spend their day while doing dfferent activities from 1958 to 2008.

Overall, working is the dominant factor as the adults spend most of their day while working. Whereas, travelling to work provides insufficient precedence.

In 1958, about 33% of the people deplete their time for working as well as for sleeping. Additionally, round about 19% of the people pass their time while going out with their family. Furthermore, 8% of the people do relax at home and hardly 2% of them travel to work. Moreover, 32% of the people end their day with sleeping.

With respect to 2008, there were minor changes as the proportion of the woking increasesd accordingly to 42%. Whereas, the proportion of outing with family rapidly falls to 6%. The relaxing factor of people at home gradually increases to 13% also with the travelling to work factor expand to 7%. The sleeping factor falls rapidly to 25%. Moreover, about 7% of the people were attracted towards sports which was the new factor.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student covers all parts of the task by reporting the main features of both pie charts and making relevant comparisons, such as contrasting the proportions of working and sleeping between 1958 and 2008. An overview is attempted in the second paragraph ('Overall, working is the dominant factor...'), although the summary is somewhat basic. The figures reported are generally accurate according to the visual data provided (e.g., working at 33% in 1958 and 42% in 2008). However, the development of ideas is limited due to repetitive phrasing ('about 33% of the people', 'about 19% of the people') and some minor misinterpretations of the data, such as stating that sleeping was 32% in 1958 and then repeating sleep figures awkwardly, or saying 'relaxing at home and hardly 2% of them travel to work' (travelling was 2% in 1958). Overall, the response meets the requirements for a Band 6.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, overview, and body paragraphs dedicated to each year. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction/overview from the 1958 and 2008 data. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty. The student overuses cohesive devices like 'Furthermore', 'Moreover', and 'Whereas' rather rigidly at the start of sentences. In addition, referencing and logical progression are occasionally hindered by awkward sentence structuring, such as 'The sleeping factor falls rapidly to 25%. Moreover, about 7% of the people were attracted towards sports which was the new factor.' These issues place the response firmly in the Band 6 descriptor category for cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms such as 'proportion', 'dominant factor', 'precedence', and 'attracted towards'. However, there are notable spelling errors ('hoe' instead of 'how', 'dfferent', 'woking', 'increasesd') and awkward collocations or word choices, such as 'deplete their time' instead of 'spend or allocate their time', 'pass their time', and 'relaxing factor'. These lexical inaccuracies and errors do not impede overall communication, but they restrict the score to Band 5.5, balancing between the adequate control of Band 6 and the noticeable errors of Band 5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and contrasting structures (e.g., 'Whereas, the proportion of outing with family rapidly falls to 6.0%'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('The are two pie charts illustrates'), incorrect verb tenses mixing past data descriptions with present tense ('the proportion of the woking increasesd'), and prepositional errors ('deplete their time for working'). While these errors do not completely obscure the meaning, they are frequent enough to prevent the response from achieving a Band 6.0 fully, aligning best with a Band 5.0 due to the persistence of basic structural and grammatical mistakes.

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

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