Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-16
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 how employment trends of the economy in the United States changed in 60 years between [redacted phone].
Overall, in 1960 manufacturing trend is the highest group among all four which roughly remain same till 2020. In contrast, farming reports to the lowest among all four career throughout the time frame.
Regarding the construction, it was the largest group accounting for 15 million by 1960. Which rose up to 20 million in 1980 but shows a gradual decline and reached to 13 million by the end of 2020. While trade and services spiked up to its peak in 2020 which was once recorded the lowest that's in 1960 at 6 million and 2 million respectively 2020.
Turning towards the agriculture field in 1960 its employment was recorded as higher than healthcare at 6 million but with time they showed decrease in the numbers with passing years and reached to the lowest at 2 million in 2020.
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 response covers all parts of the task well by identifying the main trends and making appropriate comparisons across the four economic sectors between 1960 and 2020. The overview successfully captures the overarching pattern that manufacturing started as the largest sector and farming the smallest. However, there are some minor data inaccuracies and confusing sector labels. For instance, the student refers to manufacturing as 'construction' and groups retail and healthcare under 'trade and services', while also misstating that healthcare was once recorded at 2 million in 1960 (actually healthcare was 2 million, but retail was 6 million). Despite these confusions in naming categories, key high and low points are reported.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay has a clear overall arrangement with a distinct introduction, overview, and body paragraphs. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different economic sectors. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. For example, sentences are occasionally fragmented (e.g., starting with 'Which rose up to 20 million...'), and referencing is not always clear, such as the abrupt transitions between paragraphs. Transitional phrases are somewhat limited and repetitive, but logical progression is generally maintained throughout the response, ensuring the reader can follow the main data points.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'employment trends', 'gradual decline', and 'spike'. However, there are notable lexical inaccuracies and inappropriate word choices, such as using 'construction' instead of 'manufacturing' and referring to 'farming' and 'career' instead of 'agriculture' and 'sectors'. There are also occasional awkward collocations and phrasing like 'highest group among all four which roughly remain same'. The range is sufficient to convey the main features, but word choice errors prevent it from reaching a higher band.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over structure. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('manufacturing trend is... which roughly remain same'), sentence fragments (e.g., 'Which rose up to 20 million in 1980 but shows a gradual decline...'), and preposition/article misuse. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to restrict the score to a 5.5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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