Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

The pie chart illustrates the way of utilizing time of the grown practical people in specific country between 1958 and 2008.

In the both time periods the people spent their major proportion of time in working while in 2008 people spent more time in working than the people spent in 1958. The second major part of the time in both the time periods was utilized in sleeping.

In 1958 the people spent more time with the friends or the family than in 2008. There is a significant diffierence visible between the time spent with the friends and the family in the both time periods.

The least amount of time spent on the activity in both the time periods was travelling to work.

It is visible through the charts that there is significant difference in the both time propotions of travelling to work.

While in 2008 there was more time spent by the people relaxing at home.

Overall trends in the both time periods have been significantly changed.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response attempts to present an overview of the pie charts comparing working adults' time in 1958 and 2008, addressing the task only partially. While it correctly identifies major trends such as working and sleeping taking up the majority of time, some of the information presented lacks clarity or precision. For instance, stating that 'the least amount of time spent on the activity in both the time periods was travelling to work' is inaccurate for 2008, where relaxing at home or going out with friends/family had different proportions, and travelling to work was actually 7% compared to 6% for going out. Furthermore, key data points like exact percentages are entirely omitted, leaving the descriptions somewhat generalised and under-developed. To reach a higher band, the student should incorporate specific data from the charts to support comparisons and ensure all reported details are factually accurate according to the source material.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

The response demonstrates some basic organisation, but lacks a clear overall progression. The writing is broken down into numerous very short, repetitive sentences and single-sentence paragraphs rather than being grouped into cohesive thematic units. Cohesive devices are largely absent or mechanical, relying heavily on repetitive phrasing like 'in both the time periods' or 'it is visible through the charts'. Pronoun referencing and substitution are underutilised, making the flow disjointed and repetitive. To improve coherence and cohesion, the student needs to group related data points into well-structured paragraphs, use a wider variety of transitional markers to link ideas smoothly, and avoid repeating the same structural openings for sentences.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited and repetitive, though it is minimally adequate for conveying a basic overview of the charts. The student relies on simple, high-frequency words and basic phrasing throughout the response, such as 'major part', 'time periods', and 'significant difference'. There is an awkward collocation and unnatural phrasing in the opening sentence ('the way of utilizing time of the grown practical people'), which creates an unnatural tone. Spelling is generally accurate, but the lack of flexibility and occasional lexical inaccuracies prevent the writing from achieving a higher score. To progress, the student should expand their range of vocabulary, incorporating more precise synonyms and academic collocations to discuss statistical data and trends.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student uses a very limited range of sentence structures, relying almost exclusively on simple sentences with occasional basic complex structures that frequently contain errors. There are noticeable grammatical inaccuracies throughout the text, such as article misuse ('in the both time periods', 'the least amount of time spent on the activity'), awkward prepositional phrases, and spelling errors like 'diffierence'. While these errors do not completely obscure the intended meaning, their frequency and the restrictive sentence patterns cause noticeable difficulty for the reader. To achieve a higher band, the student must demonstrate a greater variety of complex grammatical structures with improved accuracy, paying closer attention to articles, prepositions, and natural phrasing within comparative sentence patterns.

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

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