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 garph illustrates the number of jobs in the economic sectors in the US between 1960 and 2020.

Overall, Healthcare sector had increase record of jobs by 2020 reaching upto 16 million. Whereas, Manufacturing sector invested jobs with highest of 15 milliion, dropping by 2020. In contrast, Retail sector had gradually changes with rising of 16 million in 2020. While, Agriculture had steadily changes in 1980 and decreased by 2 million in 2020.

In 1960, Manufacturing invested highest employment with 15 million, reaching upto 20 million in 1980 and gradually droped below Healthcare by 13 million in 2020. The investment in Healtcare sector was at the lowest point by 3 million in 1960, rising upto to 5 million in 1980 and drasticlly increased upto 16 million in 2020.

In 1960, Retail job sector invested 6 million, increasing by 10 million in 1980 and the growth reached upto 16 million crossing Manufactruing in 2020.

However, Agriculture jobs started by 6 million employemt, remaind steady with slight drop in 1980 at 3 million and decrease by 2 million in 2020.

Therefore, Healthcare played an raising role in job sector leaving all sectors behind in US economy by 2020.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student attempts to address all parts of the task by reporting the main features of the four sectors across the given years. An overview is provided at the end of the introduction and conclusion, noting trends such as the growth of the healthcare sector. However, there are several data inaccuracies and misreadings when compared against the visual data. For example, the student states that the healthcare sector started at 3 million in 1960, whereas the data shows it started at approximately 2 million. Additionally, the phrase "invested jobs" is used awkwardly throughout, misinterpreting the nature of the data. While the response covers all categories, the presence of factual inaccuracies regarding the figures places it firmly within Band 5.5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is organized into clear paragraphs, including an introduction, body paragraphs for specific data, and a concluding summary. Progression is generally attempted, but transitions and logical flow between ideas are often awkward. For instance, paragraphs are somewhat disjointed and rely on repetitive transitional patterns like "In 1960...". Furthermore, referencing and cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or inaccurate, such as using "Therefore" in the concluding paragraph when summarizing rather than deducing a logical consequence. Paragraphing is present, but overall internal cohesion lacks flexibility, leading to a Band 5.5 score for this criterion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with domain-specific terms such as "manufacturing," "retail," "agriculture," and "healthcare." However, there is a recurring issue with lexical choice and collocation, most notably the misuse of the verb "invested" in contexts like "Manufacturing invested highest employment" and "Retail job sector invested 6 million." There are also spelling errors such as "garph" for graph, "milliion" for million, "Healtcare" for healthcare, "drasticlly" for drastically, "droped" for dropped, and "raising" for rising. These errors reflect a limited control over less common vocabulary and word choice, corresponding to a Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but grammatical accuracy is quite low due to frequent errors. Examples include tense and form issues such as "gradually changes" instead of "gradual changes" and "remaind steady with slight drop". Prepositional and verb form mistakes are also common, such as "increasing by 10 million in 1980" instead of "reaching 10 million" or "increasing to 10 million", and "started by 6 million employemt". These persistent errors frequently cause strain for the reader and prevent the text from reaching a higher band, placing it at a Band 5.0.

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