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 given pie charts illustrates that how working adults in a particular country spend their time.

overall,the working and sleeping took up the largest share of spending while traviling to work and going out with friends accounted for the smallest portion of the given data.

The working and relaxing at home significantly rise from the year 1959 to 2008 and remain dominent as far as we can see the considerably decrease in the sleeping sector from the percentage of 32% to 25% in the year 2008.Also there is a dramatically fall of going out with family/friends from 19% to 6% in 2008 this illustrates that the people prefer to work or like to relax at home.

And the other sectors like travelling to work holds the minor position back in year 1958 however it has a noticable change in 2008 and playing sports maintains the same level from 1958 to 2008.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify several important patterns: working rises from 33% to 42%, sleeping falls from 32% to 25%, and socialising drops from 19% to 6%. These comparisons are relevant and mostly accurate, and your overview recognises that work and sleep were major activities. However, the overview is not fully precise: in 2008, travelling to work and playing sports are tied for the smallest share at 7%, while socialising is 6%. You also say sports “maintains the same level,” although it is not shown in 1958, and the chart compares 1958—not 1959—with 2008. The claim that people prefer work or home relaxation is an unsupported explanation. Covering the main changes accurately, while avoiding inference, would make the summary more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs describing changes. This gives the reader a basic route through the information, and phrases such as “Also” and “And the other sectors” signal additions. However, progression is uneven: the final paragraph introduces travel and sport without clearly connecting them to the earlier comparisons, and the overview’s grouping of the smallest categories is unclear. Some linking is mechanical, while the long third paragraph combines several trends and an explanation in one sentence. Organise the details into clearer comparisons—for example, increases in one group and decreases in another—and use more precise references to the years and categories.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant chart vocabulary, including “percentage,” “sector,” “share,” and “accounted for,” and you attempt more descriptive terms such as “dominant” and “dramatically.” This gives you enough range to communicate the main trends, but inaccurate spelling and word choice reduce precision: “traviling,” “dominant,” and “noticeable” are misspelled, while “rise” and “fall” need forms that fit the sentence. “The smallest portion” is also not accurate for the 2008 categories because socialising is lower than travel and sport. Prefer standard collocations such as “increased,” “declined,” and “accounted for the smallest proportion,” and check spelling carefully. More precise vocabulary would make the comparisons sound clearer and more academic.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a comparison of sleeping in the two years and a sentence beginning “Also there is…”. However, errors in sentence structure and verb forms are frequent enough to make some relationships difficult to follow. For example, “The given pie charts illustrates that how…” has subject–verb disagreement and an unnecessary “that”; “The working and relaxing at home significantly rise” uses an incorrect verb form; and “there is a dramatically fall” has an incorrect article and adjective form. Punctuation and capitalisation are also inconsistent, especially after “overall” and between clauses. Practise building accurate comparison sentences with a clear subject and verb, such as “The proportion of adults working increased from 33% to 42%.”

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

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