Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-03

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 number of jobs in four sectors of the economy in the United States from 1960 to 2020. Overall, manufacturing and agriculture experienced a long-term decline in jobs. While healthcare showed consistent growth, retail employment rose steadily until around 2000. In 1960, manufacturing was the largest employer among the four sectors, with approximately 15 million jobs. It peaked at around 20 million in 1960. After which they declined to roughly 13 million in 2020. In contrast, agriculture started at 6 million in 1990 and then sharply declined to just over 2 million jobs in 2020. Healthcare began with the lowest jobs, around 2 million in 1960, and rose to approximately 5 million in 1980 and then continuously rose at the end of the period. Retail employment grew from about 6 million in 1960, and in 2010 the employment rate was up to 15 million, and in 2020 they were similar.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers all four sectors and identifies the main trends, such as the decline in manufacturing and agriculture and the growth in healthcare. However, there are significant factual inaccuracies regarding the data. For instance, you state manufacturing peaked in 1960 at 20 million, but the graph shows it peaking later, and you mention agriculture starting in 1990, which contradicts the 1960 start date on the x-axis. These errors in data reporting prevent a higher score. To improve, ensure you carefully cross-reference the years and figures on the axes before writing.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into logical paragraphs, with an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'In contrast' and 'While', which help the flow of information. However, the progression within the body paragraphs is sometimes disjointed due to the factual errors mentioned. The use of referencing is generally clear, but the transition between the description of the sectors could be smoother to better highlight the comparisons requested in the prompt.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'experienced a long-term decline', 'steadily', and 'sharply declined'. While the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the main points, there is a lack of more sophisticated or varied lexical items that would elevate the response. There are no major spelling errors, and the word choice is generally appropriate for a report on economic data, though it remains somewhat repetitive in structure.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are some grammatical slips, such as 'Healthcare began with the lowest jobs' (should be 'lowest number of jobs') and 'in 2020 they were similar' (referring to a singular 'employment rate'). While these errors do not impede communication, they indicate a lack of consistent control over complex structures. Increasing the variety of sentence types and ensuring subject-verb agreement would improve your score.

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

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