An IELTS Writing Task 1 two-chart answer at Band 6, 7 and 8
Quick answer
This page answers one invented Task 1 prompt with a bar chart and a pie chart three times, at Band 6, 7 and 8, with the same overview and the same key features, and it marks the phrases that earn or lose marks. With two charts, the thing that most often separates the bands is whether the overview joins them into one picture and whether each figure keeps its own unit.
In the app, a Task 1 report is marked with a band range for each criterion, and a Data Accuracy card separates a misread chart from a language mistake.
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On this page
This page takes one invented Task 1 prompt with two charts and answers it three times, at Band 6, Band 7 and Band 8. The three reports share the same overview and the same key features, so the differences you see belong to the bands, not to the data. How to choose features from a chart is explained in how to describe charts, graphs and tables; two charts on one prompt are a case of IELTS.org’s “one or more”, and the format page does not list the combinations to expect.
The three reports were written for this site. They are not from a real paper, they were not marked by IELTS, and they are illustrations to compare against, not answers to memorise. IELTS.org penalises memorised and plagiarised content, and the charts in your exam will be different, so the use of this page is to see what each band looks like.
Key takeaways
- All three reports give the same overview and use the same key features. What changes is whether the overview joins the two charts, how the figures are grouped and how accurately the sentences are built.
- The Band 6 report has an overview and reports many correct figures, but it describes the charts one after the other, gives a reason the charts do not give and mixes hours with per cent.
- The Band 7 report links the charts through private study and combines two shares into one figure.
- The Band 8 report applies the pie chart’s percentage to the bar chart’s hours, so the two charts read as one set of data.
The task
This task is invented for practice and is not from a past paper. The figures are round numbers made up for the exercise.
The bar chart shows the average number of hours per week that first-year and final-year students at a university spent on four activities in 2025. The pie chart shows where the final-year students did their private study. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.
Bar chart: average hours per week, 2025.
| Activity | First-year students | Final-year students |
|---|---|---|
| Lectures and classes | 14 | 10 |
| Private study | 12 | 18 |
| Social activities | 10 | 8 |
| Sport | 4 | 4 |
Pie chart: where final-year students did their private study, 2025 (share of their private study hours).
| Place | Share |
|---|---|
| Library | 45% |
| Home | 35% |
| Other study spaces on campus | 15% |
| Elsewhere | 5% |
Each group’s four activities add up to 40 hours, and the four shares add up to 100%. All three reports use this plan:
- Introduction: what each chart shows, in new words.
- Overview: from the first year to the final year, time moved from classes to private study, which was the only activity to rise, and the final-year students studied mostly in the library or at home.
- Detail one: the bar chart, grouped by what fell, what rose and what stayed the same.
- Detail two: the pie chart, with the library and home together as the main places.
The same report at Band 6, 7 and 8
Hover or tap a marked phrase to see what a marker would note. The legend names the criterion for each colour, and orange marks a slip that loses marks.
Band 6
The bar chart shows how many hours first-year and final-year students spent on four activities in a week, and the pie chart shows where the final-year students did their private study. Overall, the first-year students and the final-year students did different things, and the final-year students studied in different placesAn overview is there but vague: it gives no direction of change and does not link the two charts.
In the bar chart, the first-year students spent 14 hours in lectures and classes, but the final-year students spendTense: the data is from 2025, so “spent” 10 hours. Private study was 12 hours for the first-year students and 18 hours for the final-year students, and this was because the final-year students have examsA reason the charts do not give; a report describes the data and does not explain it. Social activities wasAgreement: should be “Social activities were” 10 hours for the first-year students and 8 hours for the final-year students, and sport was 4 hours for both groups of students.
In the pie chart, the library was the biggest share with 45 per centStarts a separate description of the second chart; nothing links it to the 18 hours of private study above. Home was the second biggest share with 35 per cent. The final-year students spent 45 hours in the libraryUnits mixed up: 45 is a percentage of study time, not a number of hours. Other study places on campus were 15 per cent and the last was 5 per centVague: the category should be named, for example “elsewhere”.
Band 7
The bar chart compares the average weekly hours that first-year and final-year students spent on four activities, while the pie chart shows where final-year students did their private study.
Overall, final-year students spent less time in classes and more on private study than first-year students, and most of that study took place in the library or at homeOverview covers both charts and links them through private study.
First-year students spent most time in lectures and classes, at 14 hours, compared with 12 hours of private study. For final-year students the pattern reversed: private study rose to 18 hours, while classes fell to 10The two contrasting figures are set against each other in one sentence. Social activities declined slightlyThe verb and adverb match a fall of only two hours from 10 to 8 hours, and sport stayed at four hours in both groups, which is the less time of all the activitiesComparison slip: should be “the least time”.
The pie chart shows that the library accounted for the largest shareThe standard way to say a category is a part of a whole of private study, at 45 per cent, followed by home, at 35 per cent. Together these two places made up 80 per cent of the totalA key feature: two figures combined into one that supports the overview, while other study spaces on campus and other places accounted for just 15 and 5 per cent respectively.
Band 8
The bar chart compares how first-year and final-year students divided a 40-hour week between four activitiesSets the scale of the data in the introduction, in a verb that fits, and the pie chart breaks down where final-year students did their private study.
Overall, the move from the first year to the final year shifted time from classes to private study, the only activity to rise, and most of that study took place in the library or at homeOverview gives the direction of change, names the one rising activity and links the pie chart.
Lectures and classes took up the most time in the first year, at 14 hours, but fell to 10 in the final year, while private study rose from 12 hours to 18 and became the largest activityRanks the activity in four words, so no separate comparison is needed. The extra six hours of study came from classes and social time, which lost four and two hours respectivelyPulls the three figures into one explanation of the shift and ties them to the sentence before, while sport stayed at four hours in both years.
Of that private study, the library accounted for the largest share, 45 per cent, or roughly eight hoursLinks the two charts by applying the pie chart’s percentage to the bar chart’s 18 hours, with home next at 35 per cent. The other campus study spaces and other places made up just 15 and 5 per cent, so four-fifths of the study was done in the first two placesA main clause followed by a result clause, with the fraction matching the 80 per cent.
What moved the band
The accounts below follow the public band descriptors, as this site paraphrases them. Each quotation comes from the report of the band named in its sentence.
Task Achievement
The Band 6 report has an overview and many accurate figures, but the summary is general: “the first-year students and the final-year students did different things” gives no direction. Two details also stray from the data: “this was because the final-year students have exams” is a reason that neither chart gives, and “The final-year students spent 45 hours in the library” treats a percentage as hours.
Band 7 commits to a direction and joins the charts. “final-year students spent less time in classes and more on private study” names what moved, and “Together these two places made up 80 per cent of the total” adds a figure the pie chart implies but does not print.
Band 8 goes one step further and uses one chart on the other. “or roughly eight hours” applies 45 per cent to the 18 hours of private study, so the two charts become one set of data. The Task Achievement cell at Band 7 holds the wording this account paraphrases.
Coherence and Cohesion
The Band 6 report is organised in paragraphs, but it treats the charts as two reports. The sentence “In the pie chart, the library was the biggest share with 45 per cent” starts a new description with nothing to say how it connects to the 18 hours above.
Band 7 sets figures against each other. “private study rose to 18 hours, while classes fell to 10” is a contrast in one sentence, and the paragraph on the pie chart begins with “The pie chart shows that the library” so the reader knows the report has moved on.
Band 8 makes the figures explain one another. “The extra six hours of study came from classes and social time, which lost four and two hours respectively” joins three figures to one result, and the paragraph after it carries on from “that private study”. The Coherence and Cohesion cell at Band 6 describes the mechanical pattern.
Lexical Resource
The Band 6 vocabulary is enough for the charts, and the attempts at precise wording are not all right: “the last was 5 per cent” does not name the category, and “was” does the work that verbs of change such as rise and fall should do.
Band 7 is flexible and mostly exact. “accounted for the largest share” is the standard phrase for a part of a whole, and “declined slightly” matches a fall of two hours. One slip remains in “which is the less time of all the activities”, which needs a superlative.
Band 8 chooses words for accuracy. “became the largest activity” ranks private study in four words, and “divided a 40-hour week between four activities” sets the scale in the introduction. The Lexical Resource cell at Band 8 describes this control.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The Band 6 report mixes simple and complex sentences, and its errors are small: “the final-year students spend 10 hours” has the wrong tense for 2025 data, and “Social activities was 10 hours” loses agreement.
Band 7 has several kinds of complex sentence and many are clean. “Social activities declined slightly from 10 to 8 hours, and sport stayed at four hours in both groups” joins two features in one accurate sentence, and one comparison slip remains.
Band 8 widens the range and nearly every sentence is clean. “The other campus study spaces and other places made up just 15 and 5 per cent, so four-fifths of the study was done in the first two places” joins a main clause and a result clause, and the fraction matches the 80 per cent that the first two shares add up to. Compare the Grammatical Range and Accuracy cell at Band 7.
Traps this task type sets
These come from the charts, graphs and tables guide, and each is visible in the Band 6 report.
- Listing every number. The Band 6 bar chart paragraph reports all eight figures one by one, with no sentence saying which of them matter. Group the figures by what fell, what rose and what stayed the same.
- Giving reasons. The charts say how many hours and which places, not why. “this was because the final-year students have exams” is a guess, and a marker reads it as information that the charts do not support.
- Mixing units. The bar chart is in hours and the pie chart is in per cent. “spent 45 hours in the library” puts one unit on the other chart’s figure. Write the unit next to every number as you go.
- Writing two reports. The Band 6 report finishes the bar chart before it starts the pie chart and never joins them. Find the link, here private study, before you write, and put it in the overview.
How to use these answers
Write your own report to the same task first, in 20 minutes. Then read the three answers against yours, one paragraph at a time, and ask which band your paragraph resembles on each of the four criteria. Check each figure and each unit in your report against the tables.
Next, mark your own report with the same codes: where your overview joins the charts, where a link carried the logic, where a word fitted exactly and which slips a marker would circle. Do not memorise any sentence from these pages: IELTS.org penalises memorised content, and the charts in the exam will not match these. For more of the same practice, use the Writing Task 1 practice test.
How the app marks it
IELTS Mentor AI marks a Task 1 report with a band range for each of the four criteria, from a strict to a lenient reading, followed by what worked and how to improve for each one. A Data Accuracy card separates a misreading of the visual from a language mistake, and the editor is timed at 20 minutes with a live word count against the 150 minimum.
Where this fits
This page belongs to the charts, graphs and tables guide, which explains the approach, and to the Writing test format guide, which covers the whole test. The same exercise is done for a sequence of stages in the process diagram answer at Band 6, 7 and 8 and for a changing place in the map answer. For how the four criteria combine into a Writing band, see how the IELTS Writing score is calculated, and for what each band asks, the band descriptors explorer.
Frequently asked questions
Can IELTS Writing Task 1 give me two charts at once?
IELTS.org's Academic Writing format page says Task 1 may be one or more graphs, charts or tables, or a diagram. It publishes no figures on how often each combination appears, so practise single visuals and pairs alike.
Are these two-chart answers from a real IELTS paper?
No. They were written for this site, on invented data, and they were not marked by IELTS. The band each one illustrates is the site's reading of the public band descriptors, not a score that any examiner gave.
Should I write one overview or two?
IELTS.org sets no rule. The band descriptors for Task Achievement look for a clear summary of the overall picture, so one overview that covers both charts and shows how they connect is usually clearer than two that never meet.
Can I memorise the Band 8 answer and use it in the exam?
No. IELTS.org penalises memorised and plagiarised content, and the charts in your exam will be different, so a learned report would not describe them. Use the three answers to compare with your own writing.
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