Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-14

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 pie chart illustrates the proportion of destinantions taken by anthropology students of the same university after finishing their undergratuate degree course, on the other hand the table compares the salaries of graduates after 5 years of work in their respective field.

Overall, the full time workers made up the largest share of the total, while part time worker whom are doing some sort of postgrad study are accounted for the shortest share.

Full time workers accounted for 52% represents the largest proportion followed by part time workers comprised of 15% and unemployed accounted for 12%, making them the second largest proportion, on the other hand the shortest proprtion is constituted by part time workers whom are studing postgrad courses. The destinantions of about 8% students are unknown and the other 8% are enrolled in full time postgrad corses.

In the table, 50% of graduates working in government sector are earning upto 100,000+ dollars, while the percentage of freelancer consultants comes around 40% and the ones working in private companies are comprised of 30%, only 5% from both govenrment sectors and freelancing while 10% from private companies are earning the lowest amount of $25,000 to %49,999.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response covers the main features of both the pie chart and the table, selecting key data such as the highest and lowest categories for destinations and salaries. For instance, the student correctly notes that full-time workers made up the largest share at 52%, and highlights government sector salaries in the table. However, there are some minor inaccuracies and awkward phrasing in data reporting, such as stating that 'part time worker whom are doing some sort of postgrad study are accounted for the shortest share', while also stating later that 8% are enrolled in full-time postgraduate courses (though the pie chart shows 8% as part-time postgrad and 8% as full-time postgrad, meaning the student misread the exact percentages for the smallest segments). Despite these minor misinterpretations, the overview and key features are generally addressed, aligning with the Band 6 descriptor for addressing all parts of the task with some under-developed or imprecise features.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response has a coherent overall arrangement, divided into a clear introduction, an overview paragraph, body paragraph 1 for the pie chart, and body paragraph 2 for the table. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. The student relies on basic transitional phrases such as 'on the other hand', sometimes using them inappropriately where no contrast exists (e.g., connecting clauses with commas and run-on structures). Paragraphing is attempted, but sentence boundaries are occasionally blurred by run-on sentences, such as 'Full time workers accounted for 52% represents the largest proportion followed by part time workers comprised of 15% and unemployed accounted for 12%, making them the second largest proportion, on the other hand the shortest proprtion is constituted by part time workers whom are studing postgrad courses.' These issues place the response firmly in Band 5.5 to 6.0 for logical organization and referencing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully employing terms such as 'proportion', 'freelancer consultants', and 'government sector'. However, there are numerous spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'destinantions' (destinations), 'undergratuate' (undergraduate), 'whom are' (who are), 'corses' (courses), and 'proprtion' (proportion). Additionally, phrasing like 'are earning upto 100,000+ dollars' and '%49,999' contains punctuation and collocation issues. While these errors do not impede overall communication, their frequency prevents the score from reaching Band 6.0, making a Band 5.5 more appropriate for lexical control.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting relative clauses ('whom are doing', 'whom are studing') and participial phrases ('making them the second largest proportion'). However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors in verb forms, relative pronouns, and punctuation. Run-on sentences are a major issue, characterized by comma splices and missing conjunctions (e.g., 'Full time workers accounted for 52% represents the largest proportion followed by part time workers comprised of 15%...'). Subject-verb agreement and prepositional use also show frequent flaws. Because these errors occur regularly and cause some difficulty for the reader, the grammar performance aligns with Band 5.0.

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

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