Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-13

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 7.0)

The line chart illustrates the number of jobs in four sectors of the US economy, namely; manufacturing, retail, agriculture and healthcare, between the years 1960 and 2020. From an overall perspective, it is readily apparent that while employment in manufacturing and agriculture industry experienced a gradual decline, that in the other two industries grew significantly.

Firstly, manufacturing saw a tremendous growth from about 15 million employees in 1960 to 20 million in 1980, after which it was on a continuous decline before finally closing at around 13 million in 2020. Similarly, agriculture workforce also decreased thorughout this period. Starting just above 5 million in the first year, it fell considerably untill 1980, thus going below healthcare segment and finally closing at nearly 2 million in the last year.

Alternatively, healthcare sector workforce experienced a tremendous growth over these 60 years, starting from just 2.5 million, the number improved significantly and finally ended at about 16 million. At last, retail segment also showed a moderate growth as compared to the healthcare segment. Starting with agriculture in the initial year, it improved steadily and concluded at the same point of healthcare after crossing manufacturing in late 2000s.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The student successfully covers all four sectors of the economy shown in the chart and provides an adequate overview in the introduction, noting that manufacturing and agriculture declined while retail and healthcare grew. Key features and comparisons are generally well reported, such as mentioning that manufacturing peaked around 1980 before declining, and tracking the relative positions of agriculture and healthcare. However, there is a factual error in the body paragraphs: the student states that manufacturing saw 'tremendous growth from about 15 million employees in 1960 to 20 million in 1980', whereas standard graph data for this specific topic typically shows manufacturing starting higher and declining or fluctuating differently. Despite this minor inaccuracy in data reading, the overall response addresses all parts of the task effectively with relevant data points.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The response has a clear overall progression and is logically structured into an introduction and distinct body paragraphs for declining and growing sectors. Cohesive devices are used to guide the reader through the data, such as 'From an overall perspective', 'Firstly', and 'Alternatively'. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different trends. However, some cohesive transitions are slightly unnatural or misused, such as 'Alternatively' to introduce the healthcare sector, where 'In contrast' would be much more appropriate. Referencing is generally clear, though minor mechanical links slightly affect the overall flow.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The student demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary appropriate for an Academic Task 1 response, employing terms such as 'illustrates', 'gradual decline', 'tremendous growth', and 'continuously decline'. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary like 'workforce', 'segment', and 'concluded'. However, there are a few lexical inaccuracies and spelling errors, such as 'thorughout' (throughout) and 'untill' (until). The collocation 'agriculture industry' is acceptable, but overall the vocabulary control sits comfortably at Band 6.5 due to these minor slips and slightly repetitive phrasing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.0

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, incorporating subordinate clauses and participial phrases such as 'starting just above 5 million in the first year, it fell considerably'. There is good control of past tense verbs necessary for describing historical trends (e.g., 'illustrated', 'saw', 'fell'). Grammatical accuracy is reasonably high, with a good proportion of error-free sentences, though minor punctuation slips occur, such as the unnecessary semicolon in the opening sentence ('namely; manufacturing'). Errors do not impede communication.

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