Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

The pie chart illustrates how professional people spent their leisure time in a particular country in 1958 and 2008.

Overall, more time is spent on working in 2008 than in 1958. Time spent sleeping has decreased in 2008, as compared to 1958. Time spent for traveling to work has also increased marginally.

Time spent working has seen the greatest increase from 33% in 1958 to 42% in 2008. After work, the most proportation of time is spent on sleeping in both years. However, sleeping has decreased moderately from 32% in 1958 to 25% in 2008. Another notable change is in the percentage of time spent relaxing at home, it has increased from 8% in 1958 to 13% in 2008.

Furthermore, time spent traveling to work has quite reasonably increased from just 2% in 1958 to 7% in 2008. Meanwhile, hanging out with friends and family has significantly decreased from 19% in 1958 to just 6% in 2008. Lastly, a slight increase is seen in the time spent playing sports in 2008 as compared to 1958.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The response successfully covers all parts of the task by reporting the main features of the pie charts and making relevant comparisons between 1958 and 2008. The overview correctly highlights the main trends, such as the increase in working time and the decrease in sleeping time. Key data points are accurately cited, such as work rising from 33% to 42% and time spent with friends and family dropping from 19% to 6%. However, the writing tends to over-generalise or under-develop certain supporting details, and the opening sentence incorrectly frames the charts as showing 'leisure time' rather than how working adults spent their entire day. These minor omissions and inaccuracies prevent the response from achieving a higher band, placing it firmly at the current level.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response demonstrates a clear overall progression and logical organisation. Information is grouped into sensible paragraphs: an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs detailing specific activities. Cohesive devices are used to connect ideas, such as 'Furthermore,' 'Meanwhile,' and 'Lastly.' However, referencing and cohesion are occasionally mechanical or slightly repetitive in structure. For instance, the transition between sentences can feel abrupt, and paragraphing could be managed more skilfully to bridge the gap into the next higher band, where cohesion becomes entirely unobtrusive and fluid.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms like 'proportion,' 'moderately,' 'notably,' and 'significantly.' Less common lexical items are attempted with general success, although there are minor word-choice inaccuracies and spelling slips, such as the misspelling 'proportation' instead of 'proportion' and awkward phrasing like 'time spent for traveling.' These lexical slips and occasional reliance on standard descriptors prevent the vocabulary score from reaching a higher band, which requires greater flexibility, precision, and control over less common items and collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

The response employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating good control over basic structures and attempting comparative structures such as 'as compared to 1958.' There are some grammar and punctuation errors, notably tense inconsistencies in the overview ('more time is spent' instead of 'was spent') and prepositions ('Time spent for traveling' instead of 'Time spent traveling'). However, these errors are relatively infrequent and rarely impede communication, allowing the reader to follow the argument easily. To reach the next band, the student would need to display a wider variety of complex structures with more frequent error-free sentences.

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

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