Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-10-16

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 illustrates the portion of how adult employees used to spend their time in the year 1958 and 2008.At a glance,in 2008 emplyees were tend to spend most of their times in working and there was a significant change occurred in the percentage in the portion of family outing which is in a declining manner.

Overall,it is evident that back in 1958 workers used to spend majority of their time by working,sleeping and having a friends and family outing.Nevertheless,scenario from 2008 is demonstrating that people are now more invested in working and sleeping at their homes rather than persuing other activities.However,there has been a significant change in the portion of friends and family hangout which is declining with a drastic percentage nearly 13% less than before.On contrary,travelling for work purpose has increased through the year.Additionally,in 2008 people are tend to relax at home,spend their time in workplace and interested in outdoor activies such as sporting activities more compared to 1958.However,employees are tend to have less sleeping time compared to 1958.

In conclusion,there had been a major change in the percentage of going out with friends and families than before and in other portions all of the activities have almost a similar consideration.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify several important patterns, including the rise in working time from 33% to 42%, the fall in sleeping from 32% to 25%, and the sharp decline in going out with friends and family from 19% to 6%. You also note increases in commuting and relaxing at home. This addresses the task and gives a broad comparison, but some statements are unclear or inaccurate: for example, “people are now more invested in working and sleeping” conflicts with the decrease in sleeping, and “all of the activities have almost a similar consideration” does not reflect the substantial differences. The overview would be stronger if it clearly summarised the main increases and decreases, and if the 2008 sports figure were reported explicitly.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has an overall structure, moving from an opening statement to a broad overview and then a conclusion, and it uses linking expressions such as “Overall,” “Nevertheless,” and “Additionally.” However, the progression is weakened by repetition: the decline in social outings and the reduction in sleeping are mentioned more than once, while the figures are not grouped into clear comparisons. Several transitions, including “However” and “On contrary,” feel mechanical or do not clearly show the relationship between ideas. The conclusion also repeats the point about social outings rather than adding a concise summary. Organising the details into one paragraph for increases and another for decreases would make the comparison easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You attempt a range of vocabulary relevant to describing trends, including “significant change,” “declining,” “increased,” and “percentage.” This gives you some ability to discuss the chart, but several choices are inaccurate or unnatural and sometimes obscure the intended meaning. For example, “portion of family outing” and “friends and family hangout” are less suitable than standard chart language such as “the proportion of time spent going out.” “Invested in working” is also an awkward collocation in this context, and “consideration” does not mean share or proportion. Spelling errors such as “emplyees,” “persuing,” and “activies” further reduce accuracy. Aim for precise, repeated chart vocabulary rather than elaborate paraphrases.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You try to use both simple and more complex sentences, including clauses introduced by “which” and “rather than,” but grammatical control is inconsistent. Subject–verb agreement is incorrect in “The pie charts illustrates,” and “employees were tend to spend” uses an incorrect verb pattern. There are also problems with articles, tense, and sentence construction, as in “a significant change occurred in the percentage in the portion.” Missing spaces after full stops and commas make sentence boundaries harder to read. These errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the general comparisons, but they recur across the response. Check agreement and verb forms, and use shorter, complete sentences when a longer structure becomes difficult to control.

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

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