Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-10-26

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 illustrate the propertion of the day spent by working adults on diiferent types of activites in a specific country in 1958 and 2008

Overall,working occupied the highest percentage in both years followed by sleeping in both years.While percentage of going out with friends and families dramatically dec over the 50 year period. And relaxing at home increased significantly.

In 1958 adults spent thier most of the time in working by 33% followed by sleeping which represent 32%. Meanwhile outing with friends and families contributes the 19%. however,travelling to work and relaxing at home accounted for least percentage 8* to 2%.

in 2008,most of the adults spent their day by working 42%and sleeping 25%.relaxing at home accounted for 13%,while playing sports and travelling to work remained constant at 7%.while travelling with family and friends recived the smallest share at 6%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the main pattern that working took the largest share in both years and report several relevant figures, including 33% and 42% for work and 32% and 25% for sleep. However, the overview is incomplete and contains an inaccurate comparison: going out with friends and family fell markedly, but relaxing at home rose only from 8% to 13%, so “increased significantly” overstates the change. The final sentence also mislabels the 6% category as “travelling with family and friends”; it is going out with friends/family, while travel to work was 7% in 2008. The response is 8 words below the required minimum, and some comparisons—especially the new sports category—are not developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate descriptions of the two years. This makes the information reasonably easy to follow. You also use basic linking expressions such as “Overall,” “Meanwhile,” and “In 2008.” However, some connections are mechanical or confusing. For example, “While percentage of going out…” is followed by a sentence fragment beginning “And relaxing…,” and the repeated “while” in the final paragraph weakens the flow. Comparisons between years are mostly separated rather than brought together, so the progression is not consistently smooth. Use complete sentences and group related changes—for example, the rise in work and travel alongside the decline in sleep and socialising—to create clearer links.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for describing charts, including “accounted for,” “percentage,” “followed by,” and “share,” and the reader can generally understand the intended comparisons. However, the range is limited and several word-choice or spelling errors reduce precision: “propertion,” “diiferent,” “activites,” “dec,” and “recived.” Some phrases are also unnatural, such as “spent their day by working” and “contributes the 19%.” The phrase “travelling with family and friends” changes the meaning of the chart label rather than describing travel to work or going out socially. Aim for accurate collocations such as “spent 42% of the day working” and use the chart’s category names consistently.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mixture of simple statements and more complex comparisons, and the main figures are usually understandable. However, grammatical control is inconsistent, with frequent problems in sentence boundaries, articles, agreement, and punctuation. For instance, “While percentage of going out…” is not a complete sentence, and “travelling to work and relaxing at home accounted for least percentage” needs clearer article and comparison structures. Several sentences run together without spaces after full stops, while commas and capital letters are often missing. The overview also joins clauses with “And” in a way that leaves the relationship unclear. Practise writing complete sentences with a clear subject and verb, then check articles and punctuation before submitting.

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

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