Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-10-05

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 two pie charts illustrated the number of individuals who used their time with doing diffrent activities in the year of 1958 and 2008.

The percentage of working hours had seen more in both charts. The activity that was added in the chart was playing sports in the recent year. There was a great rose in percentage on spending time with friends and family.

In 1958, working hours were 33% and increased at about 42% in 2008. The people who did relaxation at their households was 8% in 1958 as well as significantly 13% in 2008. The sleeping hours had suddenly fallen from 32% to 25% in 2008.

The percentage of community members who were travelled to work was 2% in 1958 but their ratio climbed up to 7% in 2008. The percentile of those adults who went out with friends and family was 19% in 1958 and fell down to approximately 6% in 2008. In 2008, playing sports was added to the activity list that gave 7% in the chart.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the task partially by identifying some main features of the two pie charts, such as the increase in working hours and the addition of playing sports in 2008. However, there are significant inaccuracies in reporting the data. For instance, the student states that there was a 'great rose in percentage on spending time with friends and family', whereas the data actually shows a substantial decrease from 19% to 6%. Additionally, some ideas are inadequately supported or confused, such as misinterpreting the proportion of time spent relaxing at home. To move to a higher band, the student must ensure all figures and trends cited from the visual data are accurate and fully supported with clear comparisons rather than presenting contradictory information.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

The response displays some organization with an introductory sentence and subsequent body paragraphs comparing the two years, but there is no clear overall progression. Paragraphing is attempted, with the final paragraph containing a mix of different categories rather than maintaining a logical flow of ideas. Cohesive devices are used awkwardly or repetitively, such as 'The percentage of... The activity that... There was...', which creates a mechanical feel. Reference words and logical links between sentences are occasionally unclear. To improve, the student needs to structure paragraphs more systematically—grouping related activities together—and use a wider, more natural variety of transitional markers to guide the reader smoothly through the comparison.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The lexical range used is limited but minimally adequate for the task, with simple vocabulary items repeated across the text, such as 'percentage', 'hours', and 'activity'. There are noticeable lexical errors, including awkward word choices and collocation issues like 'did relaxation' instead of 'relaxed', and non-standard expressions such as 'great rose' instead of 'marked increase' or 'significant rise'. Spelling is generally acceptable, but inaccuracies in word formation and choice cause some difficulty for the reader. To achieve a higher band, the student should incorporate a broader range of less common vocabulary and demonstrate better control over word choice and collocation, avoiding literal translations of verbs and nouns.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer uses a very limited range of sentence structures, relying primarily on simple sentences and basic subject-verb-object patterns. Attempts at more complex structures frequently result in grammatical faults, such as the opening tense error in 'The two pie charts illustrated' instead of 'illustrate', and awkward passive or prepositional constructions like 'who were travelled to work' and 'gave 7% in the chart'. Frequent errors in verb forms, tense consistency, and prepositions are present throughout the text. To reach a higher standard, the writer must reduce the frequency of basic grammatical errors and demonstrate better control over a wider variety of complex sentence forms, ensuring accurate tense usage when describing statistical data.

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

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