Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-10-12

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 below illustrates how working adults in a particular country utilize their time in 1958 and 2008.

Overall, both pie chart clearly illustrates that adults mostly utilize their time on working. Whereas, the percentage of sleeping was slightly dropped in the second pie chart. However the percentage of travelling to work & relaxing at home was slightly rose in the second pie chart.

In 1958, the adults spent their most of time in working which was 33% and it rose up to 42% in 2008. Relaxing at home play a significant role in adults life because this activity was slightly rose from [redacted phone] by 5%. Consequently, sleeping was dramatically dropped in 2008 by 7%, it was 32% in 1958.

Furthermore, other activity like travelling to work also rose by 4% however, the activity going out with friends/family plays negative role in adults life in 2008 because this activity experienced a heavy downfall by 13%. In 2008, a new activity is added in adults life which is playing sports. adults spent 7% in sports.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You identify the main changes and support them with relevant figures: working rises from 33% to 42%, sleeping falls from 32% to 25%, and going out with friends or family drops from 19% to 6%. You also note the new sports category in 2008. This gives the report a clear overview and covers the key comparisons. However, the overview says adults mostly spent their time working in both years, which is not accurate for 1958: working and sleeping were almost equal, with working only slightly higher. The description of relaxing and travelling is also less fully developed, and the phrase “negative role” adds an unsupported judgement. A more precise overview and neutral reporting would make the response more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs describing the figures. The sequence from the main categories to the remaining activities is generally understandable, and linking words such as “Overall,” “Furthermore,” and “Consequently” help signal relationships. However, progression is not always smooth: “Consequently” does not express a clear cause-and-effect link between the changes in sleeping and relaxing, while “however” is used in places where a simple comparison would be clearer. Repeated references to “the activity” and “the second pie chart” also make the writing mechanical. Grouping the largest increases and decreases together, then covering the smaller categories, would create a clearer progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for describing charts, including “percentage,” “dramatically dropped,” “rose,” and “downfall,” and the meaning is generally clear. However, the range is limited by repeated use of “rose,” “activity,” and “percentage,” and several choices are unnatural or imprecise. For example, “utilize their time on working” and “plays negative role in adults life” do not fit the neutral style of an IELTS report; “heavy downfall” is also an awkward collocation. Aim for precise, neutral expressions such as “accounted for,” “increased,” and “declined.” Varying the language while keeping it factual would improve flexibility and accuracy.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a contrast beginning “Whereas” and a sentence with “because.” However, errors in sentence structure and grammatical control are frequent enough to make some sentences awkward. For example, “The pie charts below illustrates” has a subject–verb agreement error, and “the percentage of sleeping was slightly dropped” uses an incorrect verb construction. “Relaxing at home play” also lacks agreement, while “adults spent their most of time” has an incorrect determiner pattern. Some sentence boundaries and punctuation need attention, particularly around “However” and “Furthermore.” Practise accurate past-tense reporting and agreement, and build complex sentences from a reliable grammatical pattern.

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

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