Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-12

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 pie chart illustrates the future of anthropology graduates from one university, like what they did after completing their undergraduate degree course, while the table presents the income of these graduates after five years of working.

Overall, after finishing their studies, these graduates start working full-time in large numbers, whereas the least number of students choose the option of part-time work and postgraduate studies. Anthropologists working in the government sector earned the highest salaries above $100,000+, and very few have less than $50,000.

Around 52% of graduates started working full-time, with only 15% doing part-time work. After the graduation, 12% of students failed to acquire jobs and remained unemployed. Full-time postgraduate studies have been started by 8% undergraduates, while the future of 8% remained unknown. Only 5% of the students started both part-time work and postgraduate studies.

After working for five years, 40% of the freelance consultants earned more than $100,000, while this number remained 50% and 30% for the government sector and private companies, respectively. Around 5% of freelance consultants and government sector people have salaries ranging between $25,000 and $49,999.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You cover both visuals and give a clear overview: full-time work is the largest destination, while the combined part-time-work-and-study option is the smallest, and government employees have the highest share in the top salary band. Most figures you report are accurate. However, the overview’s claim that “very few have less than $50,000” is not true across all employment types: this applies to only 5% of consultants and government workers, but 10% of private-company employees. The salary discussion is also selective and underdeveloped; you report the top band and lowest band but omit the substantial middle-band differences, such as 35% of private-company employees earning $50,000–74,999 compared with 15% in the other sectors. More precise comparisons would make the report more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a coherent overall arrangement: an introduction, an overview, then details about graduate destinations and salaries. The progression is easy to follow, and linking phrases such as “Overall,” “while,” and “After working for five years” help signal relationships between ideas. This meets the lower-band expectation for clear organisation and shows some effective cohesion. To make the progression more consistently controlled, group the salary comparisons more fully and use explicit contrasts between sectors, rather than presenting only a few figures. Some references are also imprecise: “this number” refers back to the proportion earning over $100,000, but the sentence’s construction makes the comparison slightly awkward. Clearer referencing and more systematic grouping would strengthen cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of task-related vocabulary, including “undergraduate degree course,” “unemployed,” “freelance consultants,” and “government sector.” The meaning is generally clear, and you attempt varied expressions rather than relying entirely on repetition. Some choices are imprecise or unnatural for describing chart data, however. “The future of anthropology graduates” is not an accurate way to introduce their post-graduation destinations, and “failed to acquire jobs” sounds evaluative rather than neutral. “The income” is less precise than “salary distribution,” while “this number remained 50% and 30%” is an awkward collocation. Aim for neutral, data-focused wording and use terms such as “proportion,” “share,” and “salary band” consistently.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You use a mix of simple and complex structures, including a subordinate clause in “while the table presents…” and a contrastive overview sentence. Most sentences are understandable, and grammatical errors do not obstruct the main message. Some constructions are less well controlled. In “After the graduation,” the article is unnecessary; “After working for five years, 40% of the freelance consultants earned…” also shifts from the chart’s general salary information to a past event, so a present-tense reporting structure would be more suitable. The sentence “this number remained 50% and 30%” has an unclear grammatical relationship between the subject and the two comparisons. Continue varying sentence forms, while checking articles, tense consistency, and parallel phrasing.

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

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