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 indicate the percentage of a day spent by working professionals adults of a country on different tasks in 1958 and 2008.

First of all it can be concluded that the major part of their day was spent on work, although in 2008, the time spent on work by adults was more than in 1958. On the contrary, the professionals in 2008 got less time to sleep as compared to people in 1958.

Secondly, the job holders in 2008 preferred to spent more time relaxing at home rather than hanging out with friends and family, which could be the effect of extended working hours. Also the people in 2008 travelled to work almost 3 times more than the people in 1958. the reason might be that most of the companies are set up in major cities so the people living in small villages or towns had to travel to the cities on regular basis in order to do their job.

Despite these difficulties, working professionals had not lost interest in sports.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify several important changes, including the rise in working time from 33% to 42%, the fall in sleeping from 32% to 25%, and the sharp reduction in socialising from 19% to 6%. However, the overview is incomplete: it does not clearly summarise the main overall shifts across the charts, and the response omits the 2008 figure for sports and the fact that this activity is not shown in 1958. The claim that adults travelled “almost 3 times more” is also imprecise: the share rose from 2% to 7%, which is three and a half times as high. The explanation about companies being in cities is speculation rather than information shown by the charts. Select the key comparisons, report them accurately, and avoid unsupported causes.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic sequence, moving from work and sleep to relaxation, travel, and sports, and paragraph breaks help separate the opening from the comparisons. However, progression is not consistently clear: “First of all” and “Secondly” create a list-like structure, while the long explanation about city-based companies interrupts the chart summary. The final sentence about sports is not connected to a specific comparison or figure, so it feels abrupt. Some links, such as “On the contrary,” do not express the relationship precisely; the sleep comparison is a contrast, but not a direct contradiction of the work point. Grouping related increases and decreases into a clearer overview and comparison paragraphs would make the organisation easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a reasonable range of topic vocabulary, including “percentage,” “relaxing,” “travelled,” and “interest in sports,” and the main meaning is generally clear. However, several choices are awkward or imprecise for an academic chart summary. “Working professionals adults” combines two descriptions unnaturally, “job holders” is an unsuitable substitute for adults, and “preferred to spent” uses an incorrect form. “Got less time to sleep” is conversational, while “hanging out” is informal. The phrase “almost 3 times more” also risks misrepresenting the data. Aim for neutral, precise expressions such as “the proportion of the day spent working” and “the share devoted to sleeping”; use consistent chart-reporting vocabulary rather than speculative or conversational wording.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, for example the sentence beginning “Secondly” includes a comparison and a reason clause. However, errors recur and sometimes make the phrasing difficult to process. In the opening, “working professionals adults” has an unclear noun structure; “preferred to spent” should use the base verb after “to”; and “the people living in small villages or towns had to travel” is embedded in a long sentence with several clauses that are not well controlled. There are also punctuation and capitalisation problems, including the lowercase “the” after a full stop. Practise accurate verb patterns, articles and noun phrases, and divide long explanations into shorter sentences. More reliable control of these basics would make your comparisons clearer.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.