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 is mainly showing the data of number of jobs along with the time period from 1960 to 2020. The jobs which are being discussed in the graph are manufacturing, Retail, Agriculture and Healthcare. All four jobs in millions are displayed on the y-axis and the year are on the x-axis.

The US has highest jobs means 20 millions in manufacturing in 1980. The minimum jobs are recorded of healthcare in 2020. Morevoer, the sector of healthcare and manufacturing having the decrease with the passage of time. Retail and agriculture both have increase in number of jobs.

Healthcare and retail both have 16 millions jobs in 2020. Agriculture and Retail both have 6 millions jobs in 1960. As far as 1980 is concerned Agriculture having 3.5millions employements, Healthcare has 5 millions, Retail has 10 millions and Manufacturing at top as mentioned above.

Overall the employemnt rate in US is fluctuating from 1960 to 2020. The best results are recorded in the field of Retail.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response covers all four sectors mentioned in the graph and attempts to report main features and comparisons, such as noting that manufacturing peaked in 1980 at around 20 million jobs and that healthcare and retail both reached 16 million by 2020. However, there are significant factual inaccuracies regarding the trends: the student claims that 'healthcare and manufacturing having the decrease with the passage of time' and that 'Retail and agriculture both have increase', whereas agriculture clearly declined significantly from 6 million to 2 million. Furthermore, the overview is weak and imprecise. Because of these factual errors in interpreting the data and limited development of key trends, the response falls into Band 5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The text is organised into four brief paragraphs, starting with a basic introduction. While there is a basic logical progression from introduction to body details and a concluding summary, the cohesion is often faulty or mechanical. Words like 'Morevoer' (misspelled) and repetitive sentence structures ('Healthcare and retail both have...', 'Agriculture and Retail both have...') make the flow disjointed. Paragraphing is present, but the internal organisation of ideas lacks clear, smooth transitions. Referencing is sometimes confusing, resulting in an overall arrangement that feels mechanical rather than naturally cohesive. This aligns well with the descriptors for Band 5.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is generally repetitive and limited in range ('jobs', 'sectors', 'increase', 'decrease'). The student attempts some less common vocabulary such as 'employements' and 'fluctuating', but there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors ('Morevoer', 'employements', 'The US has highest jobs means 20 millions'). Word formation and collocations are occasionally awkward, for instance writing 'having the decrease' instead of 'decreased'. The vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey basic information about the chart, but errors in spelling and word choice cause some distraction for the reader, placing it securely at Band 5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student uses a mix of simple and attempting some complex sentence structures, but control over grammar is weak. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including missing articles ('the year are on the x-axis', 'Agriculture having 3.5millions employements'), incorrect verb forms ('The graph is mainly showing', 'having the decrease'), and subject-verb agreement issues ('the sector of healthcare and manufacturing having'). Punctuation is basic, and word spacing is occasionally neglected (e.g., '3.5millions'). These frequent errors and awkward phrasings cause difficulty for the reader and prevent the response from reaching Band 6.

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