Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-10-18

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)

Those pie charts illustrate the the difference in 1958 and 2008 by percentage of the day spent by working adults on various activities.

In the first pie chart it shows most of adults spent their time in working which is about 33% while sleeping for 32%. They spent their 19% of time by going out with friends and family. And relaxing at home and traveling consumes about 8% and 2% of their time respectively.

In the second pie chart of 2008 it seems more activites are included in way of spending time. Almost 42% of their time is utilized at working while sleeping minorly decreased to 25% as compared to previous graph. 13% is used for relaxing at home. Whereas going out with family, traveling to work and playing sports meets 6%, 7% and 7%.

In conclusion it represents that adult spend most of their time in working and sleeping while other activites time rate fluctuates each week.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You report several key figures accurately, including working rising from 33% to 42%, sleeping falling from 32% to 25%, and the 2008 figures for travel and sport. However, the response mainly lists categories rather than selecting and comparing the most important changes, so the task is only partly addressed. The overview is also unclear: the conclusion says time “fluctuates each week,” although the charts compare two years, and it does not identify the main overall shifts. In addition, playing sports appears only in 2008, but this notable difference is not explained. State a concise overview of the major increases and decreases, then compare the categories across both years more directly.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic, sensible structure: it introduces the charts, describes 1958, moves to 2008, and ends with a conclusion. This makes the information generally easy to follow. However, progression is mostly a sequence of figures rather than a connected comparison, and some linking is awkward or mechanical, as in “Whereas going out with family, traveling to work and playing sports meets…” The conclusion repeats the broad idea that work and sleep take most time without drawing together the changes already described. Grouping the largest increases and decreases, and using clearer links such as “by contrast” or “meanwhile,” would create a more coherent comparison.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic vocabulary to communicate the chart categories, including “working,” “sleeping,” “relaxing at home,” and “going out with friends and family.” There are also attempts at more formal wording, such as “utilized” and “consumes,” but these choices are not always natural for describing proportions of a day. “Activities” is misspelled as “activites” more than once, and phrases such as “sleeping minorly decreased” and “meets 6%” are imprecise or awkward. Choose accurate collocations for chart descriptions—for example, “accounted for,” “rose,” and “fell”—and check spelling and word forms to make the comparisons clearer.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mixture of simple statements and longer sentences, and the reader can generally understand the figures. However, errors occur across the response and sometimes make relationships unclear. The opening has a repeated article in “the the difference,” while “In the first pie chart it shows” has an unclear subject construction. There are also agreement and sentence-structure problems in “playing sports meets 6%, 7% and 7%,” and the final sentence shifts awkwardly to “adult spend.” Some punctuation and clause connections are also weak. Practise forming clear subject–verb sentences, such as “Working accounted for 33%,” and check articles, agreement, and sentence boundaries during revision.

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

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