Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-30

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 chart illustrates what Anthropology students did after finisshing their undergraduate studies. It also demonstrates their salaries afterfive years of work.

Overall, It can be seen that more than fifty percent of students start to work full time as an anthropologist. A large number of remaining students start to work part time, while others continue their post-graduate studies. A comparatively small number of about 5 percent of students persue both at a time. Furthermore, it can be seen that the exoected salary of a anthropology graduate starts from minimum of 25000$ and exceed a large sum sum of more than [redacted phone]$, though the percentage of students in either category varies by their type of work.

After getting a college degree, 52% of anthropology undergraduates start to work full-time. The remainung students are classified in 5 types, which includes maximum of 15% working part time. Around 5% of students continue their study along with work whereas the professoonal status of about 8% remains unemployment and unknown.

These workers end up in 3 diffrent working sectors, including freelancers, government and private employs. A stcrutinized study shows that 50% of Government employees end up with salaries more than [redacted phone]$ after five years of work which is comparatively more than other domains. Another noticible feature is that the salaries of private company employees is less relatively which only have 30% of workers having salaries of [redacted phone]$+.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The candidate addresses all parts of the task by covering both the chart detailing graduate destinations and the table showing salaries after five years. An overview is successfully provided in the second paragraph, highlighting that over half of the graduates enter full-time employment and noting the salary range from under $25,000 to over $100,000. Key features and comparisons are selected, such as noting that 52% enter full-time work and identifying that 50% of government sector workers earn over $100,000 compared to private company employees. However, there are minor inaccuracies in data interpretation, such as stating that salaries start from a minimum of 25,000$ (whereas the category is $25,000–$49,999) and minor confusion regarding the unemployed/unknown statistics. Overall, the information is sufficiently reported to meet Band 6.5 criteria, leaning towards a solid Band 6.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response is arranged logically into four paragraphs, moving from an introductory summary of both charts to specific details about graduate destinations and finally salary distributions. Cohesive devices are used to connect ideas, such as 'Overall', 'Furthermore', and 'After getting a college degree'. However, paragraphing and referencing occasionally feel a bit disjointed, and some cohesive links are mechanical or slightly repetitive ('it can be seen that... it can be seen that...'). Additionally, referencing pronouns like 'These workers' creates slight ambiguity regarding which group is being referenced. Progression is generally clear, but the logical flow between sentences could be smoother to achieve a higher band score.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The candidate demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms such as 'undergraduate studies', 'post-graduate', 'distribution', and 'sectors'. There are, however, several spelling and word-form errors throughout the text, including 'finisshing', 'exoected', 'remainung', 'diffrent', 'employs', 'stcrutinized', and 'noticible'. While these lexical errors do not severely impede communication, they highlight a lack of accuracy in spelling and word choice that keeps the score at Band 5.5 or 6.0. Attempts to use less common vocabulary are evident, but spelling control is inconsistent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and subordinate clauses (e.g., 'more than fifty percent of students start to work full time as an anthropologist', 'which includes maximum of 15% working part time'). However, grammatical errors are frequent, particularly with articles, subject-verb agreement, and prepositions (e.g., 'persue both at a time', 'a anthropology graduate', 'remains unemployment', 'salaries of private company employees is less relatively'). Furthermore, punctuation and number formatting issues are present, such as placing the dollar sign after the number ('25000$'). These errors occasionally cause minor strain for the reader, aligning the grammar with Band 5.5 descriptors.

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

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