Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-10-29

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 below represent the life of working people in 1958 and 2008. It's crucial to know that all of us have an active lifestyle with different activities. Regarding the picture, we can see a superior time to going out with friends or family in 1958, with a percentage of 19%, than in 2008 where people are spending more time at work, such as 42%, and the time with family or friends is just 6%. Another substantial activity is related to sleeping people because the diagrams provide a great comparison of 25% in 2008 and 32% in 1958. The population spends the same time playing sports in both years; also it's important to see the difference between people who are relaxing at home, with 13% in 2008 and 8% in 1958.

In summary, the diagram generates the idea that people had more time for them in the past, while in 2008, they started to be busy, trying to work and modify their time together

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify several important comparisons, including the rise in working time from 33% to 42%, the fall in sleeping from 32% to 25%, and the decline in socialising from 19% to 6%. However, the account is only partly complete: travelling to work is omitted, and the claim that sports took the same share in both years is unsupported, since the chart shows sports only in 2008, at 7%. The opening comments about an active lifestyle and the closing idea that people had more time in the past are broad interpretations rather than a clear overview of the main changes. To strengthen the response, give a concise overview of the largest shifts and report the chart categories accurately, without adding assumptions.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a generally understandable sequence: it introduces the charts, compares several activities, and ends with a summary. Linking expressions such as “Regarding the picture,” “Another substantial activity,” and “In summary” help signal movement between points. However, the progression is not consistently clear because the opening shifts into a general comment about lifestyle, and the final sentence is unfinished in meaning (“trying to work and modify their time together”). The comparisons are also packed into one long paragraph, making it harder to distinguish the overview from supporting details. Organise the response into a brief introduction and overview followed by grouped comparisons, and use references that clearly identify which year or activity is being discussed.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant vocabulary for describing charts, including “percentage,” “substantial,” “comparison,” and “difference,” and the reader can understand most of the intended comparisons. However, several choices are unnatural or imprecise: “a superior time to going out” does not clearly express a larger share, and “the diagrams provide a great comparison” is vague. “The life of working people” and “time for them” are also awkward in this context. The range is adequate for basic reporting, but repeated general wording and inaccurate collocations limit precision. Use standard chart language such as “accounted for,” “rose to,” “fell to,” and “the proportion of time spent on,” ensuring each phrase fits the data.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mixture of sentence forms, including comparisons with “than” and a concluding clause beginning “while,” and most of the main figures remain understandable. Some grammatical problems nevertheless reduce clarity. For example, “a superior time to going out” has an awkward comparison structure, while “the population spends the same time playing sports in both years” is grammatically formed but presents an unsupported comparison. The final sentence, “they started to be busy, trying to work and modify their time together,” is difficult to follow because its clauses do not connect clearly. There is also inconsistent use of present and past forms when describing the two years. Build shorter, controlled comparison sentences and use past tense consistently for the chart data.

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