Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-08-24

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 4.0)

The chart illustrates the amount of money spent on 5 consumer goods (Cars, Computers, Books, perfume and Cameras) in France and the UK in 2010. units are measured in Pounds Sterling.

Overall, what stands out from the chart is that the expenditure of the UK was higher than that of France. Both the French and the British spent most money on cars. While in the UK the least amount of money was spent on perfumes compared to cameras in France.

In terms of cars, Looking at the details, the UK spent around £ 450,000 on cars as opposed to exactly £ 400,000 in france. The expenditure on books in the UK was higher than in France (about £ 400,000 and £ 300,000 respectively). The expense on Cameras in the UK was nearly £ 350,000 compared to France which was around £ 125,000.

on the other hand, the amound spent on 2 consumer goods (computers and perfume) were higher than that in France than the UK. Above £ 350,000 spent by France in computers than the British which was nearly £ 325,000 only. In terms of perfume, French spent around £ 150,000 compared to which was nearly £ 100,000 in the UK.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 1.0

The response fails to address the task provided. The prompt asks for a summary of a graph regarding job sectors in the US from 1960 to 2020, but the student has written about consumer goods expenditure in France and the UK in 2010. This is a complete mismatch of the data provided. While the student attempts to report features and make comparisons, the content is entirely irrelevant to the actual task instructions and the provided image. Consequently, the response cannot be assessed as a valid attempt at the specific task set.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay is organised into paragraphs with an introduction, overview, and body paragraphs. There is an attempt to use cohesive devices such as 'In terms of', 'on the other hand', and 'while'. However, because the content is completely unrelated to the prompt, the logical progression is undermined by the fact that the information being presented does not correspond to the source material. The referencing is clear within the context of the student's own (incorrect) narrative, but the overall structure fails to serve the purpose of the actual task.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary to describe data, such as 'expenditure', 'illustrated', and 'as opposed to'. There are some errors in word choice and spelling, such as 'amound' instead of 'amount' and 'computers than the British' which is grammatically awkward. While the vocabulary is adequate for describing a chart, it is applied to the wrong data set. The range is sufficient for the task type, but the lack of relevance to the actual prompt limits the ability to demonstrate precision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'Looking at the details' being used as a dangling modifier, and 'French spent' missing the article 'the'. The phrase 'compared to which was nearly £ 100,000' is syntactically incorrect. While the meaning is generally clear, the frequency of errors in basic sentence construction and punctuation (such as the lowercase 'on' at the start of the final paragraph) prevents the response from reaching a higher band.

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

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