Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-19

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 illustrates the information about the number of jobs in four sectors of the economy in the US over the period between 1960 and 2020. Overall, it is evident that retail and healthcare jobs are the higest available jobs in 2020, by contrast agriculture jobs are very least available.

In 1960, Manufacturing jobs were higly available up to 15 million, it rose steadily to 20 million in 1980. However, it fell dramatically to 12 million in 2000 and continued to decline till 2020, reaches to 13 million jobs. Similarly, agriculture followed the same downward trend, beginning with 6 million jobs in 1960 which fell to 3 million jobs in 1980 and remained constant till 2000. However, it again experience decrease in job to 2 million in 2020.

On the other hand, retail and healthcare followed the upward trend, in 1960 retail experience the 6 million jobs similar to agriculture jobs. It rose steadily to 10 million in 1980 and continued to climbed till 15 million job in 2000 before reaches to it's highest peak in 2020 with 16 million jobs. Similarly, healthcare showed a similar upward trend, beginning with lowest jobs in 1960 which increases to 5 million in 1980, it increase steadily to 11 million in 2000 and reached a peak of 16 million in 2020. They both experience the same number of jobs in 2020.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student covers all four sectors across the given time frame and successfully identifies the main trends and overall comparisons, fulfilling the core requirements of Task 1. The overview in the introduction correctly highlights that retail and healthcare jobs were the highest by 2020 while agriculture jobs were the lowest. Key data points are generally well-reported, such as manufacturing reaching 20 million in 1980 and retail reaching 16 million in 2020. However, there are some minor inaccuracies in data reporting, such as stating that manufacturing fell to 12 million in 2000 (which is closer to 17 million on the chart) and then rose to 13 million in 2020 (when it actually declined to 13 million). Despite these minor misreadings, the overall progression is captured adequately.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response is logically organized into four paragraphs, featuring a clear introduction with an overview, followed by separate body paragraphs grouping the declining and rising sectors. Cohesive devices are used to guide the reader through the data, such as 'Overall', 'By contrast', 'In 1960', 'However', and 'On the other hand'. Paragraphing is handled appropriately, ensuring each body paragraph focuses on specific trends. However, referencing and cohesion occasionally feel somewhat mechanical or repetitive, such as the frequent use of 'Similarly' to introduce new points, and some transitional phrasing could be smoother. Progression is generally clear throughout.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, attempting less common economic and descriptive terms such as 'sector', 'downward trend', 'upward trend', and 'highest peak'. However, there are numerous lexical and spelling inaccuracies throughout the text, including 'higest' instead of highest, 'higly' instead of highly, 'experience' instead of experienced, and 'climbed' used improperly after 'continued to'. Word choices are sometimes awkward or imprecise, such as 'jobs are very least available'. While these errors do not impede overall communication, they restrict the lexical score to a solid Band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The response exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including dependent clauses ('while agriculture jobs are very least available', 'beginning with 6 million jobs in 1960 which fell...'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors and awkward phrasing, such as 'reaches to 13 million jobs', 'it again experience decrease in job', 'retail experience the 6 million jobs', and comma splices like 'beginning with lowest jobs in 1960 which increases to 5 million in 1980, it increase steadily...'. Tense consistency is occasionally flawed, shifting between past and present inappropriately in places. Control over grammar is moderate.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.