Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-10-01

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 7.0)

The pie charts illustrate the percentage of the day spent by working adults on various activities in 1958 and 2008.

Overall, working accounted for the largest proportion, while travelling to work represented the smallest share. It is also noticeable that relaxing at home and travelling to work had relatively significant increases, whereas sleeping and going out with friends/family accounted for smaller shares over the period.

Looking first at the larger proportions, working accounted for 33% in 1958, making it the largest category. This was followed by sleeping, which represented 32%. Going out with friends/family accounted for 19%, which was lower than the figure for sleeping. Taken together, these categories made up 84% of the overall figure.

Turning to the remaining categories, relaxing at home accounted for 8%, while travelling to work represented 2%. The smallest proportion was recorded for travelling to work, at 2%. Compared with working, this figure was considerably lower, while relaxing at home was approximately four times as large as travelling to work. In 2008, working increased to 42%, sleeping decreased to 25%, relaxing at home increased to 13%, travelling to work increased to 7%, and going out with friends/family decreased to 6%, while playing sports accounted for 7%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by reporting the main features of both pie charts and making relevant comparisons. In the overview, you successfully identify the key general trends, noting that working represented the largest proportion while travelling to work accounted for the smallest share, alongside shifts in other activities. However, the development of ideas is somewhat uneven. While you provide precise figures for 1958, your treatment of the 2008 data is condensed into a single, dense concluding sentence rather than being fully integrated and contrasted with the earlier year in a structured manner. To reach a higher level, you should ensure that data from both years is equally well-developed and supported with clear, analytical comparisons throughout the body paragraphs.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear logical progression from the introduction to the overview and body paragraphs. You use appropriate introductory and transitional phrases such as "Overall," "Looking first at the larger proportions," and "Turning to the remaining categories" to guide the reader through the data. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate distinct aspects of the visual information. To bridge the gap towards higher bands, your use of cohesive devices could be more flexible and varied, and the referencing within sentences could be tightened. For instance, the final paragraph attempts to list too many changes at once without sufficient cohesive links between the clauses, making the flow slightly mechanical.

Lexical Resource: Band 7.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating less common lexical items and phrases such as "proportion," "represented the smallest share," and "considerably lower." Your word choice is generally appropriate and allows the message to be communicated clearly without impediment. There are occasional slight repetitions or minor awkwardness in phrasing, such as repeating the point about travelling to work twice in the same paragraph ("The smallest proportion was recorded for travelling to work, at 2%"). To achieve a higher score, you could employ a wider range of sophisticated vocabulary and more precise collocations to describe statistical changes and proportions with greater flair and stylistic awareness.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 7.5

Your response features a good mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating control over sentence structures. You successfully construct complex clauses with correct subordination and relative structures, such as "which was lower than the figure for sleeping" and "while relaxing at home was approximately four times as large as travelling to work." Grammatical control and punctuation are generally well-maintained throughout the text, and errors are rare and do not impede communication. To maintain frequent error-free sentences and demonstrate the full control required at the top bands, ensure that complex structures involving multiple coordinate clauses—such as the final sentence listing numerous 2008 statistics—remain structurally sound and free from run-on tendencies.

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

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