Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-10-21

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 chart illustrates how working employes in 1958 to 2008 spent their time by working in between a certain country.

Overall, the proportion of working adults spent their time on different activities like in relaxing at home, sleeping, travelling to work, going out with friends /family at playing sports has sometimes increased or decreased ratios.

In 1958 working adults accounted to 33 percent whereas, sleeping ratio makes up to 32 percent. And travelling to work constitues the most least proportion.

On contrary, in year 2008 working has largest proportion that makes up to 42 percent. But going out with family and friends has hit the rock bottom of pie chart. Sleeping comprises 25 percent of marginal proportion. However, playing sports and travelling to work remains relatively stable in 2008.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the two main changes: working rises from 33% to 42%, while sleeping falls from 32% to 25%, and you note that going out with friends and family becomes the smallest category in 2008. However, the response only partially reports the chart. It omits the 1958 figure for socialising (19%) and the 2008 figures for relaxing at home (13%) and travelling (7%); it also overlooks sports, which appears only in 2008 at 7%. Calling travel and sports “relatively stable” is inaccurate: travel increases from 2% to 7%, and sports has no 1958 figure. The overview is vague, and the response is 20 words below the required minimum. Include a clearer overview and more accurate comparisons.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic paragraph structure, moving from an introduction and overview to details for each year. This gives the reader some organisation, and contrast markers such as “whereas” and “On contrary” show an attempt to compare categories. However, progression is limited because the details are presented as short, disconnected statements rather than grouped comparisons. The overview lists activities without identifying the most important overall shifts, and “However” introduces a point that does not clearly contrast with the preceding sentence. Improve cohesion by grouping the largest categories and the notable changes, using accurate links such as “by contrast” or “while,” and making each paragraph develop one clear purpose.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some task-related vocabulary, including “proportion,” “accounted,” “comprises,” and “largest,” and the reader can generally understand which activities you mean. There are also attempts at less common expressions, such as “hit the rock bottom,” but this is too informal and unnatural for an academic report. Several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, including “working employes,” “sleeping ratio,” “most least proportion,” and “marginal proportion.” These errors make some descriptions harder to interpret and show that vocabulary control is uneven. Prefer precise chart language, such as “accounted for,” “the smallest share,” and “the proportion spent sleeping,” and check spelling and word forms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a comparison with “whereas” and a sentence beginning “However.” Nevertheless, grammatical errors occur frequently and sometimes make relationships between ideas unclear. For example, “The pie chart illustrates how working employes in 1958 to 2008 spent their time” has an unclear time construction, while “the proportion of working adults spent their time” uses an incorrect sentence pattern. There are also problems with articles, agreement, and punctuation, as in “In 1958 working adults accounted to 33 percent whereas, sleeping ratio makes up to 32 percent.” Use past-tense reporting consistently and practise accurate patterns such as “Working accounted for 33%, while sleeping made up 32%.”

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

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