Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

The graph illustrates the data of employement in four domains of the economy manufacturing, retail, agriculture and healthcare in the US between 1960 and 2020.

Overall, manufacturing filed had the highest no of jobs in initial years, on contrast healthcare contains the lowest number. Agriculture and retail industry shared the same numbers that rose gradually in both areas respectively. By 2020 agriculture working demand became the lowest in the US.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0

The response fails to meet the minimum word length requirement of 150 words, containing only 70 words. Consequently, the report is severely under-developed. While the student attempts to provide an overview and mentions some general trends—such as manufacturing having the highest number of jobs initially and agriculture declining by 2020—crucial data points are omitted or inaccurate. For instance, the claim that agriculture and retail shared the same numbers is factually incorrect based on the provided graph, where agriculture started at 6 million and retail also started at 6 million in 1960, but their trajectories diverged significantly thereafter. Due to the extreme under-length and incomplete coverage of the visual data, the task achievement is heavily penalised.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The text is organised into two brief paragraphs, attempting an introduction and an overall summary/body combination. However, due to the extreme brevity of the response, paragraphing and logical progression are underdeveloped. Cohesive devices are minimal, featuring basic transition markers like 'Overall' and 'By 2020'. Referencing is occasionally confusing, such as the ambiguous phrase 'that rose gradually in both areas respectively'. Although the sentences follow a sequential order, the lack of substantive body paragraphs and detailed data comparisons prevents the response from achieving a higher score for cohesion and coherence.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive, with noticeable spelling and collocation errors. For instance, 'employement' is misspelled, 'manufacturing filed' contains a typo for 'field', and 'on contrast' is an inaccurate prepositional collocation (should be 'in contrast'). The phrase 'working demand' is awkward and unnatural. While the student attempts topic-specific lepra like 'economy', 'manufacturing', 'retail', 'agriculture', and 'healthcare', the range is limited and inadequate to discuss the data with precision, resulting in noticeable strain for the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response contains a very limited range of sentence structures, mostly consisting of simple sentences. There are several grammatical inaccuracies, including missing articles (e.g., 'manufacturing field had the highest no of jobs'), punctuation issues, and awkward phrasing ('healthcare contains the lowest number', where past tense 'contained' would be expected). Although some simple sentences are grammatically acceptable, the frequent minor errors and lack of complex structural variety keep this criterion at the band 5 level.

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

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