Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-08-09

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 4.5)

The line charts illustrates the number of passangers in millions using three modes of public transport in a city namely the bus, the train and the underground. This data is denoted in millions.

Overall, it can be clearly seen that the mostly used public transport by the passanger is train in the city whereas, the least using public transport by the passangers is bus.

At a fleeting glance, it can be seen that in 2000 underground transport began with 30 million and slightly fluctuated by 39 million in the year 2005 than it increase contionously and goes upto 70 million in the final year.

Probing ahead, in the year 2000 train using starts by 42 million and than it increase slightly by 70 million in the year 2010 and than until goes 81 million in the final year 2020. However, in the year 2005 the bus tranport is highly used by 80 million than it increases and goes upto 55 million in the year 2020.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 3.0

The response fails to address the task correctly. You have described a graph about 'passengers' and 'public transport' (bus, train, underground), whereas the prompt provided is about 'jobs in four sectors of the economy'. This indicates a failure to identify the correct data set. Furthermore, the overview is inaccurate because it describes trends that do not match the provided image. While you have attempted to report main features, the fundamental misunderstanding of the task content prevents a higher score. To improve, ensure you carefully read the labels on the axes and the title of the graph before beginning your analysis.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay is organised into paragraphs, and there is an attempt to use cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'At a fleeting glance', and 'Probing ahead'. However, the logical progression is hindered by the fact that the content does not match the prompt. The use of referencing is sometimes unclear, and the transition between ideas feels mechanical rather than natural. While the structure follows a standard report format, the lack of relevance to the actual data makes the overall coherence weak.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.5

The vocabulary is limited and contains several errors. There are spelling mistakes such as 'passangers' (passengers), 'contionously' (continuously), and 'tranport' (transport). The range of vocabulary is restricted to basic descriptive terms, and there is a lack of precise terminology related to data reporting. Phrases like 'least using public transport' are grammatically awkward and unnatural. To improve, focus on learning collocations for describing trends, such as 'experienced a steady increase' or 'reached a peak of'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.5

There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('train using starts', 'bus tranport is highly used') and incorrect verb tenses ('it increase', 'it goes'). The sentence structures are repetitive and lack complexity. Many sentences are difficult to follow due to these errors, which occasionally impede communication. You should focus on mastering basic sentence construction, specifically ensuring that verbs agree with their subjects and that tenses are used consistently when describing past data.

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

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