Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-10-02

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 chart below illustrates the changes in proportion of the day spent by working adults on wider range of activities in 1958 and 2008.

Overall, After many decades had passed adults spent most of their time in working, relaxing at home and travelling to work but adults were less interested in touch with friends and sleeping. One additional point is that they spent their tie on palying games.

In 1958, the percentage of going out with friends and family was 19%. However, In 1958, adults were not likely be able to take part in sports. Furthermore, 33% individuals spent their time on working and 8% people were relaxing at home. Only 2% adults were travelling to work and 32% spent time on sleeping.

In 2008, the number of adults spent their time on working and relaxing at home was increased to about 42% and 13%. Moreover, the proportion of travelling to work was surged to around 7%. By contrast, adults were less interested in sleeping and meeting with friends/family. But in 2008, people spent 7% of their time on playing sports.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by reporting on the main features of both pie charts and making relevant comparisons, such as noting the changes in working time and time spent with friends. However, some ideas are under-developed or inaccurate. For instance, the statement that adults were 'less interested in touch with friends' overlooks the 1958 data where going out with friends was actually quite high at 19%, before dropping to 6% in 2008. Furthermore, the overview is somewhat repetitive and contains minor inaccuracies regarding overall trends. To move to a higher band, the overview should provide a more precise summary of the main overarching trends, and all body paragraph details should accurately reflect the visual data without confusing the directions of change.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response presents a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing, dividing the introduction, overview, and two body paragraphs logically. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. Words like 'Furthermore', 'Moreover', and 'By contrast' are used, but referencing is occasionally unclear, such as starting the overview with 'After many decades had passed adults spent most of their time in working', which lacks smooth integration. The progression of ideas stumbles slightly due to abrupt transitions between sentences. To achieve a higher band, you need to ensure that cohesive devices are used more flexibly and naturally, and that referencing within and across sentences links the data points together seamlessly without feeling repetitive.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing you to successfully communicate the general trends and percentages shown in the charts. You attempt some less common vocabulary, such as 'proportion', 'surged', and 'illustrates'. However, there are noticeable word-choice, collocation, and word-form errors that prevent a higher score, such as 'wider range of activities' (instead of a wider range), 'spent their tie' (spelling error), 'palying games' (inappropriate term for sports shown in the chart), and 'adults were not likely be able to take part' (awkward phrasing). To improve your lexical score, focus on precise word choices that match the visual data and eliminate spelling mistakes and unnatural collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures such as time clauses and comparative clauses. However, there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation that persist throughout the text. Examples include article errors ('in working' instead of on working, 'the number of adults spent' instead of the number of adults who spent), preposition errors ('spent their time on working' instead of working), and punctuation issues such as unnecessary capitalization after commas ('However, In 1958'). While these errors rarely impede overall communication, they occur too often for a higher band. To reach the next level, you need to increase your control over grammatical structures, prepositions, and verb patterns to produce error-free sentences more consistently.

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

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