Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-10-17

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 6.0)

The pie charts illustrates how time is spent by working adults in a specific country in the year 1958 and 2008.

Overall, in both countries adults spent most of their time in work, while sleeping was the second largest time expenditure by adults. In other activities such as sports, travelling to work, and relaxing, adult spent a quite short time.

In three activities working, sleeping, and relaxing at home, time spent by adults was 33%, 32%, and 8%, respectively, in 1958. The working time increased to 42%, and relaxing time surged slightly to 13% in 2008, while sleeping time of adults decreased significantly from 32% to 25%.

Initially, in other activities, such as going out with friends and family adults spent 19%, whereas in sports and travelling to work, they spent about 6% and 2% of their time, respectively. In 2008, percentage of time that adults spent with their family saw a notable decline to 6%. Meanwhile, travelling time and sports time subsequently rose up to 7%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main changes and report several accurate figures: working rises from 33% to 42%, sleeping falls from 32% to 25%, and time spent going out drops from 19% to 6%. The overview also recognises work and sleep as major activities. However, it inaccurately says work was the largest category in both years; in 1958, working and sleeping were almost equal, with working only slightly higher. The overview also groups sports with both years, although sports appears only in 2008, and the later comparison gives sports as 6% rather than 7%. Some features are therefore covered less fully or precisely. Make the overview more exact and check each figure against the chart.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs presenting the figures. The sequence from the main categories to the remaining activities is easy to follow, and linking expressions such as “Overall,” “Initially,” and “Meanwhile” help signal relationships. However, “Initially” is not a particularly clear way to introduce the 1958 figures, and the final paragraph combines several comparisons in a way that makes the sports data slightly confusing. The overview’s reference to “both countries” also briefly disrupts the reader’s understanding, since the charts compare years. Use more precise time-based transitions and ensure each comparison clearly identifies the year and activity.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for describing chart data, including “increased,” “decreased significantly,” “notable decline,” and “percentage.” These choices help communicate the main trends, and the meaning is generally clear. Some word choices and collocations are less natural or precise, however: “time expenditure by adults” is awkward, “surged slightly” overstates a rise from 8% to 13%, and “rose up to” is less suitable for formal data description. “In both countries” is also an inaccurate expression for a comparison between two years. Aim for conventional chart language and choose trend verbs that match the size of the change, such as “rose” or “increased.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a contrast with “while” and a sentence beginning “In 2008.” Most of the information remains understandable, but some grammatical errors are noticeable. The opening should be “The pie charts illustrate,” because the plural subject requires a plural verb. In the overview, “adult spent” needs a plural form, and “a quite short time” has an incorrect article and word order. The phrase “in the year 1958 and 2008” also needs a clearer plural time reference, such as “in 1958 and 2008.” Review subject–verb agreement, articles, and noun number, while retaining the useful range of sentence structures.

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