Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

The graph illustrates the information about the number of jobs in four sectors of the economy in the US between 1960 and 2020. Jobs in the four sectors of economy are listed as manufacturing, retail, agriculture and healthcare.15 million jobs were available in 1960 in the field of manufacturing, this number increased by 5 million in 20 years. After 1980 20 million jobs started decreasing and reached to almost 16 million by the end of 2000. In 2020, this number further reduced by 3 to 4 million amd reached approcimately 12 million. Retailing Job was completely opposite of manufactuting job, as this field started from 5 million in 1960 and reached upto 16 million by th end of 2020, which is enormous growth. On the other hand, healthcare job also followed the pattern as a retailing job, initiated from below than 5 million and by the end of 2020 this 5 million rose to 16 million. Lastly, agriculture job showed the completely different pattern. It started from almost 5 to 6 million in 1960, but declined to 1 milliom by the end of 2020 which is a huge decrement in agruculture profession.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response covers all parts of the task by reporting the main features of the four economic sectors between 1960 and 2020 and making relevant comparisons. For example, the student correctly highlights manufacturing as starting at 15 million in 1960, peaking, and then declining, while contrasting this with retail and healthcare which experienced significant growth. However, there are some minor inaccuracies and awkward phrasing in reporting specific figures, such as stating '20 million jobs started decreasing' when referring to the timeline and numbers. Furthermore, the overview lacks a clear overarching summary statement, which prevents the response from reaching the higher bands. Nevertheless, the main trends are adequately identified and supported by data points from the graph, aligning well with the Band 6 descriptor for this criterion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response presents a coherent overall arrangement of information, moving sequentially from sector to sector, but it suffers from a lack of proper paragraphing, as the entire text is presented as a single dense block. While the student attempts to link ideas using cohesive devices like 'On the other hand' and 'Lastly', referencing is occasionally mechanical or unclear, such as the pronoun use in 'this 5 million rose to 16 million'. There is a lack of smooth progression between sentences because the data points are simply listed consecutively rather than being grouped logically into thematic or chronological paragraphs. Consequently, the organization remains basic, and cohesion requires better management, placing the performance firmly in the Band 5.5 to 6 range.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms such as 'illustrates', 'manufacturing', 'retailing', 'healthcare', and 'agriculture'. Less common vocabulary is attempted with varying degrees of success; phrases like 'enormous growth' and 'huge decrement' show an awareness of style, though 'decrement' is an unnatural word choice in this context. There are several spelling and word-choice errors, including 'amd' instead of 'and', 'approcimately', 'Retailing Job', 'manufactuting', and 'agruculture'. Although these errors are noticeable, they do not impede communication since the reader can easily understand the intended meaning. This performance fits the Band 6 descriptor for lexical resource.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'The graph illustrates the information about...' and 'Retailing Job was completely opposite of manufactuting job, as this field started from...'. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several errors in article usage, pluralization, and preposition choice, such as 'healthcare job also followed the pattern as a retailing job', 'below than 5 million', and 'to 1 milliom'. Punctuation errors also occur, particularly with run-on sentences and missing commas around transitional phrases. While these errors do not prevent the reader from grasping the main ideas, they occur frequently enough to restrict the score to a Band 5.5, reflecting a limited control over complex sentence structures and mechanics.

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