Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-11-05

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The chart below shows what Anthropology graduates from one university did after finishing their undergraduate degree course. The table shows the salaries of the anthropologists in work after five years.

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparison where relevant.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The given figures present data about the professions of anthropology graduates from one university including their work types and salaries after five years of graduation.

Overall, it can be noticed that more than half of the graduates involve in full-time work with only 5% are parallaly doing part-time work with postgrad study. In addition to this, half of the government officials have salaries over one million with only 5% of feelancers and government job holders have pay less than 50k.

By looking closely to the chart, it can be seen that half of the graduates are doing full-time jobs which depicts a positive message towards the subjects. The second largest group is doing part-time jobs which is 15%. The third one is 12% which mentions the unemployed graduates. There is a tie between the full-time postgraduate students and students whose position are not-known and that is 8%. the least one is the graduates who are ding part-time work with postgrad study and their percentage is only 5%.

Through the table, we show that the government jobs are the highest paying job with 50% of the employees having salaries over one million, 30% having between 75k to 99k, 15% getting between 50k to 75k and only 5% remains between 25k to 50k. the second largest group are the freelancers who are getting over one million salaries

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the main destination pattern, including full-time work as the largest group and part-time work with postgraduate study as the smallest, and you report several figures accurately. However, the response only partly covers the table: it focuses on government salaries and begins describing freelancers, but omits the private-company figures and does not complete the freelancer comparison. There is also a significant data error: “over one million” should be “$100,000 or more.” The overview’s claim that this is a “positive message” is an unsupported interpretation rather than a summary of the data. To strengthen the response, give a concise overview of both visuals and compare the salary distributions across all three employment types.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, an overview, a paragraph on graduate destinations, and a paragraph on salaries. This makes the two visuals easy to distinguish, and sequencing phrases such as “By looking closely” and “Through the table” help signal the shift in focus. However, the final paragraph stops after an incomplete comparison of freelancers, so the progression through the table is unfinished. Some linking is also mechanical, and references such as “the second largest group” are less precise when the paragraph moves between different categories. Complete the salary discussion and use clearer comparisons—for example, contrast the proportions earning the top salary band in government and freelance work with those in private companies.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a reasonable range of task-related vocabulary, including “graduates,” “postgrad study,” “unemployed,” “salaries,” and “employees,” so the topic is generally clear. However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or informal: “involve in full-time work,” “positive message,” “government officials,” and “over one million” do not express the chart information appropriately. There are also spelling errors such as “parallaly,” “feelancers,” and “ding,” which reduce precision. Aim for standard chart language and consistent salary-band wording, such as “were employed full-time,” “the government sector,” and “$100,000 or above.” This would make the description more accurate and suitably formal.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including clauses introduced by “with” and “which,” and the main meaning is usually understandable. However, some errors in verb forms, agreement, articles, and sentence construction make parts awkward. For example, “more than half of the graduates involve in full-time work” needs a passive form such as “are employed,” while “only 5% are parallaly doing” has an incorrect construction. In “half of the graduates are doing full-time jobs which depicts,” the relative clause does not agree clearly with its reference. Capitalisation after full stops is also inconsistent. Use shorter, controlled sentences when reporting figures, then check subject–verb agreement and verb forms.

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