Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-10-03

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 charts illustrates the percentiles of the day spent by working peoples on the basis of different activitties between 1958 and 2008.

In 1958, according to the pie charts, the most dominant activity was working that consititutes about 33% compared to traveling to work that was less dominant about 2%. Apart from the working activity, the second most significant activity was sleeping that consists of 32% leaving behind the outings with family and friends at 19%. Moreover, relaxing at home also showed some partiticpation in this pie chart with 8%.

In 2008, working activity constitiute about 42% that was significantly raised as compared to 1958.The other dominant activity in 2008 was sleeping that contributed about 25%, although it has been substantialy declined as comapred to 1958. Relaxing at home contributes almost 13% with the 3rd number in the activities. Whereas, going out with with friends and family also showed notable decrease from 19% in 1958 to 6% in 2008. additionally, in 2008b traveling to work showed about 7% with one more addition of activity that is playing sport and it consitittute about 7%

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response addresses the task partially, attempting to present data from the two pie charts comparing 1958 and 2008. However, there is a lack of a clear overall summary or overview statement which is essential for Task 1. While some key features are highlighted, such as the proportions for working and sleeping, the comparison between the two years is mechanical and lacks depth. For instance, the student notes that working increased to 42% and sleeping declined to 25%, but fails to synthesise the broader shifts in time allocation across the half-century. Furthermore, some data points are slightly disjointed, and the selection of features feels more like a raw listing rather than a well-structured summary of the main trends.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear separation into paragraphs for 1958 and 2008, preceded by an introductory sentence. Cohesive devices are used to guide the reader through the data, such as 'In 1958', 'Apart from the working activity', and 'Whereas'. However, referencing and cohesion can sometimes feel mechanical or repetitive, as seen with phrases like 'The other dominant activity' and 'Relaxing at home contributes'. While paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate the two years, the lack of a distinct overview paragraph disrupts the logical progression expected in a standard Academic Task 1 response, keeping the structural flow at a foundational level.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for the task, providing a sufficient range to describe basic percentages and categories. However, there are noticeable spelling errors ('activitties', 'consititutes', 'partiticpation', 'constitiute', 'substantialy', 'comapred', 'additionally', '2008b', 'consititute') and awkward word choices ('working peoples', 'outings with family and friends'). While these errors do not completely impede communication, they recur frequently enough to draw attention and restrict the lexical score. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary items like 'dominant', 'significant', and 'substantially', but inaccuracies in word form and spelling prevent a higher level of lexical control.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'In 1958, according to the pie charts, the most dominant activity was working that consititutes about 33% compared to traveling to work...'. However, control over grammar is inconsistent, featuring frequent errors in verb tense consistency, subject-verb agreement, and prepositions. Examples include 'The pie charts illustrates' (singular/plural mismatch), 'was working that consititutes' (tense shift), and 'going out with with friends' (repetition/preposition error). Attempts at complex clauses often result in faulty structures, and punctuation lapses also occur, which places the grammatical performance in the lower intermediate category.

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

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