Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-15

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 provides the information about number of jobs in the four sectors namely Manufacturing, Retail, Agriculture and Healthcare in US economy between 1960 and 2020.

From the first glimpse of the representation it can be clearly seen that the numbers of job in manufacturing showed largest share among all other sectors. In 1960, production area stands at 15 millions after two decades it marginally rose to 20 millions and then, declined over the following years and reached at about 12 millions in 2020. In addition, at beginning jobs oppurtunities under healthcare sector accounted for just 2 millions and it showed dramatical increase throughout the period and now its being more populated in US as compared to other sectors. Jobs owned under retail sector noticed consistent increase over the 60 year of period.

Moving further, jobs u der agriculture feild stood at around 6 millions, which fell to 3 millions and then remained relatively stable till 2020.

Overall, job opportunities under healthcare was increased year after year. Similiarly, access to work under retailing also escalated throughout the period. Whereas, jobs under agriculture field are lesser than the other sectors.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student successfully addresses all parts of the task by reporting the main features and making relevant comparisons across the four sectors between 1960 and 2020. Key data points are generally accurate, such as manufacturing starting at 15 million, peaking at 20 million, and retail/healthcare ending at 16 million. An overview is present at the end, identifying the key trends of healthcare and retailing increasing and agriculture being the lowest. However, there are minor inaccuracies in data interpretation, such as stating manufacturing reached 'about 12 millions in 2020' (the graph shows approximately 13 million) and describing agriculture as remaining 'relatively stable till 2020' after falling to 3 million (it actually drops further to 2 million). Despite these minor misreadings, the response covers the scope of the task well, earning a solid Band 6.5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response has a clear overall progression and is divided into appropriate paragraphs, separating the introduction, body details by sector, and the final overview. Cohesive devices are used to guide the reader through the data, such as 'In addition', 'Moving further', and 'Whereas'. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. For instance, the transition 'From the first glimpse of the representation' is unnatural, and referencing is occasionally clunky ('its being more populated in US' instead of referring to job volume). Paragraphing is utilised, but the grouping of information could be more logically structured. Overall, the organizational structure is coherent, fitting the Band 6 descriptor.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully employing terms related to data trends such as 'marginally rose', 'declined', 'dramatical increase' (should be dramatic), and 'consistent increase'. However, there are notable word choice and spelling errors throughout, such as 'oppurtunities' (opportunities), 'u der' (under), 'feild' (field), and 'Similiarly' (Similarly). The student also uses inappropriate lexical collocation in phrases like 'production area stands at' and 'Jobs owned under retail sector'. While less common vocabulary is attempted, the frequent lexical errors restrict the score to a Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, attempting relative clauses and introductory prepositional phrases. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several structural and punctuation errors, including missing articles ('in US economy'), subject-verb agreement issues ('numbers of job... showed', 'jobs under agriculture field are lesser'), and awkward phrasing ('jobs under healthcare was increased'). Punctuation around transitional phrases is also weak in places. Because errors are frequent and occasionally cause minor strain for the reader, but do not impede overall communication, this performance aligns with a Band 5.5.

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