Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-18

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 line graph provides information abouth the number of occupations in four sector of US economy from 1960 to 2020.

Overall, among the four sector of employment in US; retail and healthcare has been increased rapidely throughout the period where as agriculture shows downward trend from 1960 to 2020.

At the beginning of the period, the two sector with least employment were retail and healthcare with around 2.5 million and over 5 million. Then, rose steadily over the period and reached around 16 million jobs, becoming the largest sector in 2020. In the other hand, manufacturing provides approximately 15 million jobs in 1960 which increased to 20 million in 1980 with the highest point and declined to around 13 million by end of the period.

Agriculture started at around 5million jobs in 1960. Then, dropped sharply to around 1 million by 1980 and remained constant from 1980 to 2020 becoming the smallest job sector.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The student successfully covers all parts of the task by reporting on all four economic sectors shown in the graph and making relevant comparisons across the period from 1960 to 2020. An overall trend is provided in the second paragraph, noting the upward trajectory of retail and healthcare and the downward trend in agriculture. Key features are accurately highlighted, such as manufacturing peaking in 1980 at 20 million and agriculture dropping sharply. However, there are minor inaccuracies in data interpretation in the body paragraphs; for instance, the student states that retail and healthcare started with around 2.5 million and over 5 million jobs, whereas the graph shows retail starting at 6 million and healthcare at 2 million in 1960. Despite these minor discrepancies, the main features and trends are adequately selected and reported.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response has a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt at paragraphing, separating the introduction, overview, and body details. Logical progression is generally maintained as the student moves through the different sectors chronologically. However, cohesive devices are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For example, phrases like 'In the other hand' contain preposition errors ('On the other hand'), and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as grouping retail and healthcare together awkwardly when describing their starting points. Paragraphing is visible, but the second body paragraph runs straight into the concluding details without distinct separation. Cohesion is adequate for a Band 6, but lacks the flexibility and smooth management seen at higher bands.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms related to economic sectors and graphical trends, such as 'occupations', 'downward trend', 'rose steadily', and 'dropped sharply'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, including 'abouth' instead of 'about', 'sector' instead of 'sectors', and 'rapidely' instead of 'rapidly'. Additionally, the phrase 'four sector of economy' lacks necessary articles. While these lexical inaccuracies do not prevent communication of the core message, they cap the lexical score at Band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and time-phrase introductions. There are, however, frequent grammatical errors, particularly regarding subject-verb agreement and prepositions, such as 'retail and healthcare has been increased' instead of 'have increased', and 'in four sector' instead of 'in four sectors'. Punctuation is also somewhat erratic with extra spacing issues. While simple sentences are generally successful, attempts at more complex structures frequently introduce errors. These errors do not seriously impede communication, fitting the Band 6 descriptor well.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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