Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-10-04

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 show how working adults in a particular country spent their time on different activities in 1958 and 2008.

Overall, working and sleeping took up the largest parts of the day in both years. However, the amount of time spent increased in 2008, while sleeping and going out with freinds or family decreasded.

In 1958, working accounted for 33% of the day, while sleeping made up 32%. Goung out with freinds or family was also common activity, at 19%. In comparison, people spent only 8% relaxing at home and 2% travelling to work. the remaining 6% was spent playing sports.

In 2008, the percentage of time spent working rose significantly to 42%, making it the the largest activity. Sleeping decreased to 25%. People spent 13% of their time relaxing at home, which was higher than in 1958. Travelling to work also increased from 2% to 7%. on the other hand, going out with freinds or family fell sharply to 6%, while playing sports increased slightly to 7%.

Overall, the charts show that people spent more time working and relaxing in 2008, but less time sleeping and socialising.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by selecting and reporting the main features from both pie charts, providing a clear overview at the beginning and end. Key data points such as the working percentages (33% in 1958 rising to 42% in 2008) and sleeping figures are accurately cited. However, some areas are under-developed; for example, the student claims in the overview that 'the amount of time spent increased in 2008' without specifying what activity increased, and minor inaccuracies occur in the data reporting (such as mentioning 'playing sports' for 1958 when the dataset for 1958 shows no such category, though the text actually writes 'the remaining 6% was spent playing sports' which confuses the 1958 breakdown). Overall, the response meets the core requirements for selecting and comparing relevant data, but the lack of precise precision in certain comparisons keeps it at this level.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response exhibits a coherent overall arrangement with a clear logical progression from an introduction to body paragraphs detailing each year, and a concluding summary. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the two time periods. However, cohesion is at times mechanical or faulty. The use of transitional phrases like 'In comparison' and 'On the other hand' is attempted, but referencing and logical links between sentences can be slightly repetitive. Additionally, minor organizational slips, such as placing the sports category incorrectly or confusing data flow between paragraphs, prevent the flow from being fully seamless. To reach a higher band, the writer needs to employ a wider and more natural variety of cohesive devices while ensuring smooth transitions between ideas.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common lexical items such as 'accounted for', 'rose significantly', and 'fell sharply'. However, there are notable spelling errors throughout the text, including 'freinds' instead of 'friends' and 'decreasded' instead of 'decreased', along with a typo in 'Goung out'. While these lexical errors and typos do not seriously impede communication, they recur often enough to prevent access to a higher band. To improve, the writer should focus on careful proofreading to eliminate spelling mistakes and incorporate more sophisticated paraphrasing of the chart data rather than relying on repetitive structures.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing structures such as subordinate clauses ('while sleeping made up 32%' and 'which was higher than in 1958'). There are some grammatical errors and punctuation issues present, such as missing capitalization at the beginning of a sentence ('the remaining 6%...'). However, these errors are relatively infrequent and rarely impede communication, fitting the profile of this level where a mix of structures is controlled despite some persistent slips. To achieve a higher band, the writer should aim for a wider variety of complex sentence patterns with consistently accurate punctuation and verb agreement.

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

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