Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

The line graph illustrates data about number of jobs in four different job sectors of economy from 1960 to 2020 in the USA .The jobs are posted in millions .

Overall, the line graph gives us information about jobs in 4 sectors(manufacturing,retail, agriculture, healthcare), initially manufacturing was in demand but at the end of the period it fall dramatically. In contrast Jobs of retail and healthcare gained popularity compared to the initial years .whereas, agriculture showed slight declining nature through the period of time.

At the start of the period in 1960, 15 millions jobs were in manufacturing sector which rose to 20 million in 1980. After 1980 it started declining and only around 13 million jobs were present till 2020 .

Retail and agriculture recorded the same number of job in 1960, nearly about 6 million. Following this, they showed diverging nature after year 1960. Retail sector recorded gradual growth till 2000, by 2000 it exceeded manufacturing sector. In contrast both retail and healthcare sector ran parallel till 200. After it they showed converging nature and both recorded the highest demand in 2020 by exceeding manufacturing sector.

The demand of agriculture sector, continuously dropped after initial years and were least in demand till 2020, It recorded only 1 million jobs. additionally healthcare sector crossed it between 1960 and 1980.

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 trends of the four sectors across the given period, and makes relevant comparisons such as contrasting manufacturing with retail and healthcare. An overview is provided, identifying key trends like the rise of retail and healthcare and the decline of agriculture and manufacturing. However, there are minor inaccuracies in data interpretation, such as stating agriculture recorded 1 million jobs in 2020 (the graph shows approximately 2 million) and noting that retail and healthcare ran parallel until 200 (referring to 2000). Despite these minor misreadings, the overall response covers all parts well and fulfils the requirements of Task 1 effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is arranged into logical paragraphs, beginning with an introduction, followed by an overview paragraph, and then detailed body paragraphs. There is a clear progression of ideas from the start of the period to the end. Cohesive devices are used to connect ideas, such as 'Overall', 'In contrast', 'Following this', and 'Additionally'. However, referencing and cohesion are occasionally faulty or mechanical, as seen in awkward phrasing like 'both retail and healthcare sector ran parallel till 200' and punctuation/spacing issues. Paragraphing is used sufficiently, but overall cohesion could be smoother and more precise to reach a higher band.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating topic-specific terms such as 'manufacturing', 'retail', 'agriculture', 'healthcare', 'sector', and 'demand'. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary like 'dramatically', 'declining nature', 'diverging', and 'converging'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as 'jobs are posted in millions', 'showed slight declining nature', and 'number of job' (missing plural). Spelling and word-form errors occur occasionally, but they do not impede communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating clauses with subordinating conjunctions and transitional phrases. There are instances of good grammatical control, but frequent errors in grammar and punctuation are present. Examples include missing articles ('data about number of jobs', 'in manufacturing sector'), spacing and punctuation errors (missing spaces after periods, comma splices), and subject-verb agreement issues ('it fall dramatically' instead of 'fell'). Although these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the message, they restrict the score to a band 5.5.

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.