Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-08-31

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 6.5)

The graph illustrates information about jobs in four sectors of the US economy, which include manufacturing, retail, agriculture and healthcare from the year 1990 to 2020 and jobs in millions.

Overall view of the graph shows that manufacturing had the highest number of jobs available for most of the period. In constrast, retail and healthcare grew substantially over the years, but agriculture declined through the years.

In 1960 manufacturing had the highest number of jobs of about 15 million and reached its peak of 20 million jobs in 1980 but started to climbed down and stopped at 13 million in 2020. However agriculture and retail both had 6 millions jobs in 1960, while retail grew gradually and reached its highest point of 16 million jobs in 2020. Agriculture suffered a consistent downward trend through the years from 6 million in 1960 to 2 millions in 2020.

Healthcare had the most substantial growth starting at the lowest of 2 million in 1960 to surpassed manufacturing and increseaing eightfold and matching retail 16 million jobs in 2020.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

You have successfully identified the main trends and provided a clear overview of the data. You covered all four sectors and made relevant comparisons, such as noting the growth in healthcare and retail versus the decline in agriculture. However, there is a factual error in your introduction: you stated the period as 1990–2020, whereas the graph clearly shows 1960–2020. Additionally, while you mention the peak for manufacturing, you could have provided more precise data points for the other sectors to fully satisfy the requirement for reporting key features. Overall, the response is well-structured and addresses the prompt effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The response is logically organized into clear paragraphs, with an introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs. You use cohesive devices such as 'In contrast', 'However', and 'while' to connect ideas. However, the flow is occasionally hindered by minor mechanical issues, such as the repetitive use of 'through the years' and 'in 1960'. The progression of ideas is generally clear, but the transition between the overview and the body paragraphs could be smoother. The use of referencing is adequate, though some sentences feel slightly disjointed due to grammatical inaccuracies.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'substantially', 'gradually', 'downward trend', and 'eightfold'. These choices help convey the trends accurately. There are some minor errors in word choice and form, such as 'increseaing' (spelling) and 'climbed down' (which is not standard collocation for data trends). While you attempt to use more sophisticated vocabulary, the occasional errors and limited variety in reporting verbs prevent a higher score. Expanding your repertoire of trend-related verbs and adverbs would improve your precision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as 'while retail grew gradually and reached its highest point'. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues (e.g., 'Healthcare... to surpassed') and tense inconsistencies. Some sentences are slightly awkward, such as 'Overall view of the graph shows that...', which lacks an article. While these errors do not impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher band. Focusing on proofreading for basic tense consistency and article usage would significantly enhance your accuracy.

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