Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-08-18

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 6.5)

The provided pie chart summarises the information regarding the pathways chosen by anthropology students from one university after completion of their undergraduate degree. Whereas, the table reports the salaries of anthropologists after 5 years of work.

Overall, most of the graduates started working in various sort of jobs, mostly full time. While only a smaller number continued their post grad studies or stayed unemployed. As per the table, the majority of anthropologists received a salary of $100,000 plus after 5 years of work.

After graduation, 52% of the grads started working full time, whereas, only 12% remained unemployed. 8% grads started post grad studies and 5% of them were doing studies along with the part time work. 15% of the students resorted to part-time work and the destination of the remaining 8% is unknown.

After 5 years of work, 40% of the freelance consultants, 50% of government employees and 30% from the private companies received salaries of above $100,000. Whereas, only 5% personnel from freelance plus government sectors and 10% from private companies had the salaries between $25,000-$49,999.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response covers all parts of the task, providing a clear overview and selecting key features from both the chart and the table. The main trends are identified, such as the prevalence of full-time work and the salary distribution. However, the analysis of the table is slightly mechanical; it lists percentages without fully synthesising the data to highlight the most significant comparisons (e.g., noting that government employees had the highest proportion of high earners). While the information is accurate, the report would benefit from more analytical grouping of data to better highlight the 'main features' as requested by the prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The response is logically organised into four paragraphs: an introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs focusing on the chart and table respectively. Cohesive devices such as 'whereas', 'while', and 'after' are used effectively to link ideas. However, the transition between the overview and the body paragraphs is slightly abrupt. The referencing is generally clear, though some sentences feel like a list of statistics rather than a cohesive narrative. The paragraphing is appropriate, and the progression of information is easy to follow throughout the response.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task. You have used some topic-specific terms like 'freelance consultants', 'undergraduate degree', and 'post-grad studies'. However, there is some repetition of basic verbs like 'started' and 'received'. There are also minor inaccuracies in word choice, such as 'various sort of jobs' (should be 'sorts') and 'personnel from freelance plus government sectors' (personnel is not the ideal term for graduates in these sectors). To reach a higher band, try to incorporate more precise academic vocabulary to describe trends and proportions.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are some grammatical errors, such as '8% grads' (missing 'of') and '5% personnel from freelance plus government sectors' (the phrasing is slightly awkward). Punctuation is generally sound, though the use of commas before 'whereas' is sometimes unnecessary. While the errors do not impede communication, the range of complex structures is somewhat limited. Increasing the variety of sentence beginnings and using more sophisticated subordinating conjunctions would improve the overall grammatical profile.

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

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