Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-04

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 graph demonstarates what Anthropology graduates from a university did after graduating from their degree course. Furthermore, the table ellaborates the salaries of the anthropologists in work after five years. After completing the majority of the graduates became full-time workers. In addition, the statistics demonstrates that government sector anthropologist workers received the highest salary at the end.

A total number of 52% graduates worked as full-time workers. On the other hand, 15% started working part-time. However, 12% graduates remained unemployeed. In addition, only 5% graduates balanced work and study simultanously. The reports suggests that only 8% graduates persuaded postgraduates studies. The data of 8% graduates is missing. Thus, no comments can be made in this regard.

Antrhropology graduates mainly joined freelance consultants, government sector and private companies as their professions. In freelance consultants and government sector, only 5% anthropologists had salaries between $[redacted phone]9. However in private companies 10% people were having the same salary. 50% graduates were being paid %[redacted phone]+ in government sectors after working for five years. On the other hand only 30% were being paid the same salay in private companies.

The data illustrates that a significant amount of graduates started working after graduation. Furthermore,the statistics demonstrates that overall anthropologies working in private companies received the lowest salary. On the other hand, freelance consultants and government sectors provided much more benifits.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response covers the main features of both the pie chart and the table, but the presentation remains somewhat limited and mechanical. You have attempted to report key data points, such as the 52% of graduates in full-time work and the salary breakdown for government sectors, which meets the basic requirements of the task. However, your overview is weak and lacks a clear summary of the overall trends; stating that 'government sector anthropologist workers received the highest salary at the end' touches on a key feature, but the general progression across categories is not fully synthesised. Furthermore, there are minor inaccuracies in reporting details, such as missing parts of sentences in your opening paragraphs (e.g., 'After completing the majority of the graduates became full-time workers' is grammatically incomplete). To move to a higher band, you need to provide a clearer, more cohesive overview at the beginning and integrate data comparisons more fluidly throughout the body paragraphs without simply listing isolated statistics.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

Your response is organised into paragraphs, and you attempt to guide the reader using cohesive devices such as 'On the other hand', 'However', and 'In addition'. However, the logical progression between sentences and paragraphs is occasionally disrupted by mechanical transitions and abrupt shifts in focus. For instance, moving abruptly from general graduate destinations to specific salary brackets creates a disjointed flow. Additionally, referencing is sometimes unclear, and cohesive devices are overused in a repetitive manner (e.g., starting multiple sentences with 'In addition' or 'However'). Paragraphing is present, but internal cohesion needs strengthening to ensure that the information flows naturally from the pie chart data to the table data. To achieve a higher band, you must work on creating a smoother logical progression and use a wider variety of cohesive devices more naturally rather than relying on formulaic transition words.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You demonstrate an adequate vocabulary to complete the task, employing some task-specific terms such as 'anthropology graduates', 'full-time work', and 'freelance consultants'. However, your lexical range is limited, and there are noticeable errors in word choice, spelling, and word formation that detract from the quality of the writing. For example, you misspelled 'demonstarates', 'ellaborates', 'unemployeed', 'simultanously', 'persuaded' (instead of pursued), and 'Antrhropology'. There are also awkward lexical choices, such as 'anthropologies' to refer to anthropologists, and formatting issues like '%100000+' instead of '$100,000+'. These errors and the limited variety of less common vocabulary restrict your score. To improve, you should expand your range of vocabulary to describe statistical data precisely and pay closer attention to standard spelling and word forms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over basic structures. However, your grammatical range is limited, and frequent errors persist, particularly with articles, prepositional phrases, and incomplete sentence clauses. For example, writing 'After completing the majority of the graduates became full-time workers' misses a necessary noun or object after 'completing', and 'overall anthropologies working' contains a noun form error. You also have punctuation and phrasing issues, such as missing commas in introductory clauses and awkward phrasing like 'were being paid'. While these errors do not completely obscure your meaning, they occur frequently enough to cause some difficulty for the reader. To reach a higher band, you need to produce a higher proportion of error-free complex sentences and demonstrate better control over grammatical boundaries and verb structures.

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