Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-08-04

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The graph below gives information about the number of jobs in four sectors of the economy in the US between 1960 and 2020.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Number of jobs in four sectors of the economy in the US, 1960-2020

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The line graph illustrates the information about the number of employments in four economic sectors in the US from 1960 to 2020.

Overall, the number of employment opportunities in the retail and healthcare sectors increased, while the figures decreased in manufacturing and agricultural sectors.

Initially, there were about 3 million job opportunities in healthcare sector in 1960, the proportion increased to 5 million jobs in 1980, then grew significantly to around 16 million jobs by the end of the period. Similarly, the retail professions started from about 6 million in 1960, rose dramatically to approximately 15 million work positions in the year 2000, then showed a slight increase to around 16 million positions in 2020.

However, the number of jobs in agriculture sector was almost 7 million by the start, which declined gradually to around 3 million employments in 1980, and remained almost constant over the period.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response covers the main trends for all four sectors, but it fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 150 words. This under-length significantly impacts the development of the response. While the overview is clear, the description of the manufacturing sector is entirely missing, which is a major omission. Furthermore, the data for the manufacturing sector was not reported at all, meaning the task was not fully addressed. To improve, ensure all data points are covered and expand on the comparisons between sectors to meet the length requirement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is logically organized with a clear introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the growing sectors from the declining ones. Cohesive devices such as 'Similarly', 'However', and 'then' are used to link ideas, though the flow is somewhat mechanical. The progression of information is generally clear, but the lack of a concluding summary or a more detailed analysis of the manufacturing sector limits the overall coherence of the report.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, using terms like 'economic sectors', 'job opportunities', and 'remained almost constant'. However, there is some repetitive use of 'number of jobs' and 'positions'. The range is somewhat limited, and there are minor inaccuracies in word choice, such as 'number of employments' (employment is usually uncountable in this context). To achieve a higher band, you should incorporate more varied synonyms and precise collocations related to data trends, such as 'fluctuated', 'plateaued', or 'a significant decline'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are some grammatical errors, such as 'in healthcare sector' (missing the article 'the') and 'by the start' (which is slightly unnatural). While these errors do not impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. The control over punctuation is generally good, but the sentence variety is somewhat restricted. Focusing on more complex sentence structures, such as using relative clauses or participle phrases, would improve the range and accuracy.

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

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