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 demonstrate the four categories of jobs measured in millions from 1960 to 2020.
The jobs were manufacturing,retail,healthcare and agriculture.
Overall, healthcare jobs faced the significant growth followed by the retail jobs. However, manufacturing and agricultural jobs declined over the period of time.
In 1960, manufacturing jobs were 15 million and faced steady growth to 20 million in 1980. However, it kept declining over the period of time
reaching about 13 million jobs while healthcare jobs were low at the initial phase about 2 millon later there was significant growth leading upto 16 million jobs outracing the manufacturing jobs.
Conversly,agriculture and retail jobs were about 6 million in the beginning where retail jobs rose up and faced steady growth making it on the same place as manufacturing jobs 16 million. Meanwhile, agriculture jobs kept declining over the period of time about 2 million jobs making it the lowest jobs in USA.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The student successfully identifies all four economic sectors and provides a clear overview noting the contrasting trends of growth in healthcare and retail versus decline in manufacturing and agriculture. Main features are reported, such as manufacturing peaking at 20 million in 1980 before declining, and healthcare rising significantly to 16 million. However, the response contains minor inaccuracies in data reporting; for example, retail jobs in 1960 are stated as 6 million, whereas the graph indicates approximately 6 million for agriculture and retail, but retail actually grows to 16 million by 2020. Additionally, some comparisons lack precise chronological contextualisation. Overall, all parts of the task are addressed, earning a Band 6.5.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response is arranged coherently with a clear overall progression, moving from an introductory sentence and overview into detailed body descriptions. Paragraphing is attempted, though the division could be structured more logically to separate the growing sectors from the declining ones. Cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'However', 'Conversly' [sic], and 'Meanwhile' are used to connect ideas, although some transitions feel a bit mechanical or are misspelled. Referencing is generally clear, but the dense clustering of multiple data points in long sentences affects the overall flow. This corresponds to a Band 6.0.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms related to economic trends such as 'growth', 'declined', 'steady growth', and 'significant growth'. There are some attempts at less common vocabulary ('outracing', 'initial phase'), which shows a willingness to expand lexical range. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors, such as 'demonstrate' instead of 'demonstrates', 'millon' instead of 'million', and 'Conversly' instead of 'Conversely'. These errors do not impede communication but prevent the score from reaching the higher bands. This performance fits a Band 6.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating subordinate clauses and conjunctions (e.g., 'while healthcare jobs were low at the initial phase... later there was significant growth'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors and punctuation slips throughout the text, including missing articles ('in USA'), run-on sentences with comma splices, and agreement issues ('The line graph demonstrate'). Complex structures are often faulty. While communication is not severely impeded, the accumulation of grammatical inaccuracies limits the score to a Band 5.5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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