Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

The figure illustrates 2 pie charts. These charts display's the percentage of the day spent by working adults in various activities in the year 1958 and the year 2008.

While all sections of the pie charts are changing by time, the Working section remains dominant all the time. Sleeping and spending time with friends and family were major sections in 1958 with 32% and 19% of sections respectively. These 2 sections were significantly decreased in 2008.

The charts also shows that the time used to travel to work was way low in 1958 as compared to 2008. The Sleeping section decreased from 32% to 25% that shows how much the modern life have taken over the daily routines.

Meanwhile, when every aspect of day activities changed, Playing Sports is the only one that remained almost same for past years till now. People back then used to do more activities than relaxing at home, as shown in pie charts.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the main parts of the task by reporting several key features from the charts, such as the dominance of the working category and the drop in sleeping time. However, some parts of the response are under-developed or lack precision. For instance, the mention that 'Playing Sports is the only one that remained almost same' overlooks other data points, and some comparisons are generalised rather than fully supported with the specific figures provided in the prompt. To move to a higher level, the overview needs to synthesize trends more clearly, and all selected features should be supported with accurate data referencing.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a coherent overall arrangement and attempts to organise ideas chronologically and topically. Paragraphing is present, although the grouping of ideas could be structured more logically. Cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or repetitive, such as the frequent use of 'sections' and 'these 2 sections', and referencing is not always completely clear. Progression throughout the response lacks clear continuity, making the transitions between points feel slightly abrupt. To improve, you should use a wider variety of cohesive markers and ensure that each paragraph builds smoothly upon the last.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully communicating basic ideas with words like 'dominant', 'significant', and 'routines'. However, there are noticeable lexical inaccuracies and awkward word choices, such as 'way low' instead of 'significantly lower', and referring to pie chart slices as 'sections' rather than categories or proportions. Additionally, minor slips in word forms occur. To achieve a higher score, you should incorporate a wider range of less common lexical items with greater precision in collocation and register, avoiding informal phrasing like 'way low'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and some complex sentence forms, such as 'While all sections of the pie charts are changing by time...'. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('This charts display's'), preposition misuse ('changing by time' instead of 'over time'), and article errors. Punctuation and sentence structures also show occasional awkwardness that requires the reader to slow down. To reach the next level, you need to produce a higher proportion of error-free complex sentences and demonstrate better control over grammatical structures and tense consistency.

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

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