Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-12

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 5.0)

The line graph illustrates the proportion of jobs in four categories (manufacturing, retail, agrivulture, and healthcare) of economy from 1960 to 2020 in United States.

Overall, manufacturing started off as the highest job sector, while healthcare was the lowest job sector in 1960. Retail, and agriculture were at the second job sector in economy over the same period. By 2020, healthcare and retail were the leading job categories, making manufacturing as the second most

contributing job sector, after its considerable decline. Also agriculture declined, and remaind almost constant over the given period.

In 1960, manufacturing was leading at exactly 15M, then peaking at 20M, considerably decline over the peroid and ended at well over the 10M in 2020. agriculture, on the other hand, starting at almost at 6M, gradually declined at approxiamtely 3M by 1980, remained almost constant over the next years.

Retail by contrat started at exactly 6M, dramatically increased over the given period while making an end at sharply 16M, also agriculture started at nearly 2M in 1960, moderatly rose to exactly 16M, marking both as the top leading payed jobs over the end of the given period.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The student attempts to address the task by summarizing the main features of the line graph regarding job sectors in the US between 1960 and 2020. An overview is provided, highlighting the changes in manufacturing and healthcare. However, there are significant factual inaccuracies in data reporting. For instance, the student states that agriculture rose to exactly 16M and retail ended at 16M, describing both as the top leading paid jobs, which misinterprets the visual data where healthcare and retail rose while agriculture remained low. The trends are somewhat underdeveloped due to these data errors and confusing phrasing, placing this performance at Band 5.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The text is organized into paragraphs with an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs detailing specific sectors. However, the logical progression is hindered by confusing grouping and inaccurate data. For example, retail and agriculture are bizarrely grouped as being at the 'second job sector' in the overview, and contradictory statements appear regarding agricultural trends. Cohesive devices are used, but referencing is occasionally faulty, such as 'Retail by contrat started... also agriculture started at nearly 2M... moderatly rose to exactly 16M'. Paragraphing is attempted, but overall cohesion feels mechanical and confusing, supporting a Band 5.0 score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student displays a limited vocabulary range with several noticeable spelling and word choice errors. Examples of misspellings include 'agrivulture' instead of agriculture, 'remaind', 'peroid', 'approxiamtely', 'contrat', and 'moderatly'. There are also awkward collocations and lexical inaccuracies, such as 'top leading payed jobs' and referring to the proportion of jobs while using absolute numbers like '15M'. While the vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey the general topic of the graph, the frequency of spelling mistakes and lexical errors limits the score to Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'manufacturing started off as the highest job sector, while healthcare was the lowest'. However, grammatical control is weak, with frequent errors including tense inconsistencies, missing prepositions, and faulty participial clauses like 'making manufacturing as the second most contributing job sector, after its considerable decline' and 'considerably decline over the peroid'. Punctuation errors are also present, such as comma splices. These frequent errors occasionally cause difficulty for the reader, placing the grammar performance firmly at Band 5.0.

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