Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

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 and presents a clear overview of the main trends shown in the pie charts. Figures are accurately cited, such as working accounting for 33% in 1958 and rising to 42% in 2008. However, some areas are under-developed. For instance, the discussion of the 1958 data focuses heavily on listing individual percentages without fully synthesising the broader picture of how working adults divided their time. Furthermore, the final paragraph attempts to cram multiple data points and changes into a single dense sentence rather than extending the analysis of 2008 systematically. To achieve a higher band, the response would need to ensure all features are fully elaborated with consistent depth and more thorough comparisons across both years.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a clear logical progression from the introduction to the overview and body paragraphs. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different sections of the visual data, moving from an introductory summary to detailed examinations of the proportions. Cohesive devices are generally well managed, with phrases like 'Looking first at the larger proportions' and 'Turning to the remaining categories' effectively guiding the reader through the text. However, referencing and cohesion occasionally become mechanical, and the final paragraph suffers from a lack of smooth transitions when listing multiple contrasting changes at once. To move further up, the writer needs to refine paragraph-to-paragraph connections and ensure that complex groupings of data are sequenced with greater fluidity.

Lexical Resource: Band 7.0

The vocabulary used is generally adequate and appropriate for the task, demonstrating a sufficient range with attempts at less common items such as 'proportion', 'represented', and 'considerably lower'. The writer successfully varies phrasing to discuss statistical data without excessive repetition. However, there are minor lexical inaccuracies, such as repeating 'travelling to work' twice in quick succession within the fourth paragraph, which points to a slight lack of lexical precision and control. To reach the next level, the writer should incorporate a wider variety of sophisticated synonyms and collocation patterns, avoiding redundant phrasing and demonstrating a more natural, flexible command of less common vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 7.0

The response displays a workable mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and introductory participial phrases effectively, such as 'making it the largest category' and 'which represented 32%'. There are frequent error-free sentences, and punctuation is generally well controlled. Grammatical structures are handled with reasonable accuracy; however, minor lapses occur in sentence construction, particularly in the overly congested final sentence where multiple clauses are joined together in a way that slightly strains syntactic clarity. To secure a higher band, the writer must demonstrate a wider variety of complex structures consistently while maintaining strict accuracy across all sentence formations.

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

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