Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-10-11
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 charts below illustrates the activities that do working adults in 1958 and in 2008, in a specific country.
Overall, it can be seen that the highest percentage of all the activities was working, while the lowest percentage was travelling to work and going out with friends.
The percentage of working increased from 33 per cent to 42 per cent, in 1958 and 2008, respectively.Relaxing at home followed the same pattern, rising from 8% to 13%. The same with travelling to work with 2% in 1958 and 7% in 2008.
By contrast, in terms of going out with friends was in 19 per cent in 1958 and 6 per cent in 2008. Sleeping was in 32 % in 1958 while 25% in 2008.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0
You identify several important changes accurately: working rises from 33% to 42%, relaxing at home from 8% to 13%, and sleeping falls from 32% to 25%. However, the overview is not fully accurate: travelling to work is not among the lowest activities in 2008, and playing sports, at 7%, is omitted entirely. The response also gives limited comparison and development, and at 123 words it does not meet the required minimum of 150. To strengthen the report, include the new sports category, compare the largest increases and decreases, and make the overview reflect the main patterns across both years.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0
The response has a coherent basic structure: an introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs describing increases and decreases. The contrast marker “By contrast” helps signal the shift to falling figures, and the information is generally easy to follow. However, some links are mechanical or incomplete, as in “The same with travelling to work,” which does not form a complete sentence or clearly connect to the preceding comparison. The overview also groups activities in a way that is not clear across both years. Use complete comparison sentences and organise the details consistently—for example, discuss increases together, then decreases, while making the year-to-year relationships explicit.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
You use relevant vocabulary for describing charts, including “percentage,” “increased,” “rising,” and “By contrast,” so the main trends are understandable. However, the range is limited and several expressions are awkward or imprecise, such as “the activities that do working adults” and “the percentage of working.” “The lowest percentage … was travelling to work and going out with friends” is also unclear because the lowest category differs between years. Choose more natural chart language and name the activity directly, such as “the proportion of adults who worked.” More precise terms for increases and decreases, alongside accurate category labels, would make the report clearer and more flexible.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The response attempts a few different sentence forms, including the overview clause “it can be seen that” and the contrast introduced by “By contrast.” However, grammatical errors are frequent enough to make some sentences awkward or incomplete. For example, “The charts below illustrates” has subject–verb disagreement, while “The same with travelling to work” is a fragment. In “The percentage of working increased …, in 1958 and 2008, respectively,” the punctuation and sentence construction are faulty; “going out with friends was in 19 per cent” also uses an incorrect grammatical pattern. Practise complete sentences with accurate agreement and use structures such as “The proportion spent on X rose from … to ….”
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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