Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-11-01

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 two given pie chart shows the working adult in a particular country spent their time on various activities in 1958 and 2008.

In 1958 most of the people spend their most of the time Working which was 33%, use their 32% of day time to sleep and 19% for going out with family or friends. 8% for relaxing at home and the last two travelling for work need 2% and playing sports need 6%.

In 2008, It changed a lot mainly the section Going out with friends or family decreased and remained only 6%. The working time has increased now it is 42%,

Relaxing at home also increased to 8% to 13%. Sleeping had reduced from 32% to 25% and Travelling to work had also increased from 2% to 7% and the last sector Playing sports had also increased by 1%.

overall, The family time had been reduced a lot. Where else travelling time and Working time has increased a lot in this time period

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify several important comparisons accurately: working rises from 33% to 42%, sleeping falls from 32% to 25%, and time spent going out drops from 19% to 6%. You also note the increases in travel and relaxation. However, the account of 1958 incorrectly includes playing sports; that category appears only in the 2008 chart, where it accounts for 7%, not 6%. The statement that sports “increased by 1%” is therefore unsupported. Your overview identifies the broad shift towards work and away from socialising, but “family time” is imprecise, and the main features could be summarised more clearly before the detailed figures. Overall, the task is addressed, though some details are unclear or inaccurate.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response follows a generally sensible order, moving from 1958 to 2008 and ending with an overall comparison. This makes the main time-based contrast reasonably easy to follow. However, the first paragraph groups figures in a long, awkward sentence, and the transition into the 2008 details is not consistently smooth. Connectors such as “also” and “and” are repeated, while “Where else” does not clearly express the intended contrast. The final overview repeats points already mentioned rather than drawing the comparisons together concisely. Use separate, clearly focused paragraphs for the overview and the two years, and link related changes with more precise referencing to improve progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant activity vocabulary, including “relaxing at home,” “travelling to work,” and “going out with friends or family,” so the reader can understand the categories being compared. There is some useful variation in describing change, such as “increased,” “decreased,” and “reduced.” However, several phrases are imprecise or unnatural: “spend their most of the time,” “the last two travelling for work,” and “family time” do not describe the chart clearly. Repetition of “increased” and “time” also limits flexibility. Choose accurate chart language such as “accounted for,” “share,” and “proportion,” and distinguish socialising from time with family. These improvements would make the comparisons more precise and natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple statements and longer comparisons, for example, “Sleeping had reduced from 32% to 25% and Travelling to work had also increased from 2% to 7%.” The intended meaning is usually recoverable, but some errors in sentence structure and verb forms reduce accuracy. In the opening, “The two given pie chart shows” has a plural subject with a singular verb; “people spend” should be in the past when describing 1958. The construction “use their 32% of day time to sleep” is also grammatically incomplete, and the sentence beginning “Where else” is a fragment. Improve control of past-tense reporting, subject–verb agreement, and complete sentence boundaries while retaining a mix of sentence patterns.

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