Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)
The line graph illustrates the number of jobs in five different sectors of the economy in the US measured in millions during 1960 to 2020.
Overall, Manufacturing was the most popular sector for jobs in the beginning which was eventually surpassed by retail and healthcare in later years.Furthermore agricultural and manufacturing sectors had a decline in jobs; whereas retail and healthcare sectors had an incline in jobs over the period.
A detailled analysis of the graph shows that, During 1960 to 1980 manufacturing sector had a moderate incline from 15 million jobs to 20 millions jobs, before dropping back to 13 millions jobs in 2020. On the other hand healthcare sector had an significant increase in jobs from 3 million to 5 million in 1960 to 1980 then it rose sharply to 16 million jobs in 2020.
In 1960, both retail and agricultural sectors have similar number of jobs at 6 million. Retail witnessed an exponential growth to 15 million jobs in 2000 and then had a marginal incline to 16 million jobs in 2020. By contrast, jobs in agricultural had an significant decline to 3 million jobs in 1980 and again it had a slight decline to 2 million jobs during the period.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The candidate successfully addresses the prompt by providing an overview of the graph and reporting the main features and trends across the four economic sectors. The introduction notes the five sectors (slightly miscounting the four shown in the prompt, but successfully identifying the key data). An overall trend summary is included, noting the declines in manufacturing and agriculture, and the growth in retail and healthcare. Key figures are selected and reported appropriately, such as manufacturing rising from 15 to 20 million before dropping to 13 million, and healthcare climbing sharply to 16 million. However, there are minor numerical inaccuracies in the text compared to the visual data, and the task is treated adequately enough to meet Band 6 requirements, though development could be slightly more fully extended for higher bands.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response is arranged into four paragraphs, following a logical structure with an introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs detailing specific sectors. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Overall', 'Furthermore', 'On the other hand', and 'By contrast', which help guide the reader through the comparisons. However, referencing and paragraphing can feel somewhat mechanical, and punctuation issues in some sentences affect the flow. Progression is clear overall, justifying a Band 6 score.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The candidate demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common items and trend-related terminology such as 'surpassed', 'exponential growth', 'marginal incline', and 'significant decline'. There are, however, several word choice and spelling errors, such as 'detailled' instead of 'detailed', 'incline' used instead of 'increase' or 'growth' in certain contexts, and grammatical collocation slips like 'agricultural' used as a noun instead of 'agriculture'. These errors do not impede communication, placing the response solidly in the Band 6 category.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and introductory prepositional phrases ('During 1960 to 1980 manufacturing sector had...'). There are noticeable errors in grammar and punctuation, including missing articles ('the manufacturing sector', 'the healthcare sector'), missing commas after introductory time phrases, and pluralisation errors ('20 millions jobs', '13 millions jobs'). Nevertheless, these errors rarely impede communication and the basic meaning remains clear throughout, aligning well with the Band 6 descriptor.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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