Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-06
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 bar chart demonstrates the destination of the anthropology graduates after completing there undergraduate degree course whereas the table shows the salaries they earn at there current jobs after five years.
Overall, it is clearly seen that , majority of the graduates are employed and earning a good salary that means that they are successful while a small portion of the total are unemployed but that does not mean they are failures.
The given data clearly depicts that more that half e.i. 52 % of the total graduates are full time employ. 15% people are part-time employ and 5% are doing post graduate study along with part-time. Two-third of the total graduate are focused on earning money and show no interest in further studies. While 8% are pursuing further studies. 12% are unemployed and whereabouts of the 8% are unknown.
Of all the graduates that are working they are mostly involved in freelance consultants, government sector and private companies. Graduates in former two earn similar salaries upto around $74,999. After that there is a gradual decline in government sector. Private sector has more graduates in the range of $50,000-$74,999 .
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response addresses the main parts of the task by reporting the graduate destinations and mentioning data from the salary table, but some areas are under-developed or contain inaccuracies. For instance, the overview contains irrelevant personal commentary ('earning a good salary that means that they are successful... but that does not mean they are failures') rather than summarising the main trends. Furthermore, the details regarding the table are vague and partially misread, such as stating that 'graduates in former two earn similar salaries upto around $74,999' and making general claims about the private sector without accurately detailing the distribution across salary brackets. Key features like the dominant 50%+ full-time employment and the peak salary ranges are touched upon, but the overall selection and reporting lack precision.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0
The text exhibits a coherent overall arrangement and is divided into appropriate paragraphs, starting with an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs for the chart and table data respectively. However, the logical progression is sometimes hindered by mechanical or basic cohesive devices. While transitional phrases like 'Overall' and 'While' are used, referencing and transitions between ideas within the body paragraphs feel disjointed at times. For instance, jumping between the employment destinations and the salary brackets lacks smooth bridging, and referencing pronouns like 'former two' is slightly imprecise given the structure of the data.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, though the range is limited and contains noticeable errors in word choice, form, and spelling. Examples of lexical errors include 'there undergraduate' instead of 'their undergraduate', 'there current jobs' instead of 'their current jobs', 'full time employ' instead of 'full-time employees', and 'freelance consultants' used as a category of employment rather than the people themselves. While the student attempts less common vocabulary such as 'gradual decline', inaccuracies in collocation and word formation mean the lexical control remains at a lower level.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The writing displays a limited range of sentence structures, relying heavily on simple sentences and basic coordination. When complex structures are attempted, they frequently contain errors, such as missing articles, punctuation flaws like comma splices ('is clearly seen that , majority'), and awkward phrasing. Frequent errors in grammatical structures and prepositions cause some difficulty for the reader, particularly in sentences describing data relationships, such as 'more that half e.i. 52 % of the total graduates are full time employ.' Punctuation and agreement slips also persist throughout the text.
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