Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-10-19

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 how individual working in a particular country by spending their valueable time in year of 1958 and 2008.

Overall, Sleeping and Working had the large portion throughtout both years. Whereas, others divide the rest of portion.

To begin with, In 1958 33% of people spend their time at work, whereas, this number increased to 42% in 2008. Moving forward, 32% of adults spend their daily time in sleeping which delined in 2008 to 25%.

Moreover, other people love spending their time with friends & family, this has been record around 19% in 1958, which then decreased to only 6%. If we look at relaxing at home was never a part of most of people in 1958 but increased to 13% in 2008. Travelling was the least thing to do in 1958 as recorded only 2% of people to travelling which rose to 7% in 2008. lastly, only few people use to play sports in 1958 which then increased to 7% in 2008.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You identify the main changes accurately: working rises from 33% to 42%, sleeping falls from 32% to 25%, and time with friends and family drops from 19% to 6%. You also report the figures for travel and relaxing at home, and note sports in 2008. The overview recognises that work and sleep take large shares, but “others divide the rest” is too vague to summarise the overall pattern clearly. The claim that sleeping and working had the largest portions throughout is also not fully precise, since going out with friends and family was the second-largest activity in 1958. Some details are less fully developed, especially the new sports category and the comparison of smaller activities. A sharper overview and more selective comparisons would strengthen the response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs reporting details. The information is generally grouped sensibly, with work and sleep discussed together and the remaining activities covered afterward. However, progression within the final paragraph is less smooth, as it moves through several categories in quick succession without a clear comparison or grouping. Connectors such as “Moreover,” “If we look at,” and “lastly” help signal movement, but some are mechanical or awkwardly attached to the sentence. The opening “To begin with, In 1958” also has inconsistent punctuation. Use clearer topic sentences and link related increases and decreases directly; this would make the organisation more consistently easy to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant vocabulary for describing the chart, including “increased,” “decreased,” “portion,” and “recorded,” so the reader can understand the main comparisons. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are noticeably inaccurate, such as “spending their valuable time,” “the large portion,” and “the least thing to do.” “Never a part of most of people” is also an unclear way to describe the 8% figure. Spelling errors such as “valueable” and “delined” further reduce accuracy. Aim for precise chart language and natural collocations—for example, “accounted for,” “share,” and “the smallest proportion”—and check spelling carefully. This would make the description clearer and more appropriate to an academic report.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including comparisons with “whereas” and a relative clause in “which then decreased to only 6%.” However, errors occur across the response and sometimes make sentences awkward. For example, “The pie charts illustrates” has a subject–verb agreement error, while “33% of people spend their time at work” uses an unsuitable verb form for reporting past chart data. The sentence beginning “If we look at relaxing at home” is not grammatically complete, and “only few people use to play sports” has problems with the article and verb construction. Capitalisation after full stops is also inconsistent. Practise accurate past-tense reporting and complete sentence patterns, while retaining your attempts to combine comparisons.

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

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