Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-20
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 chart illustrates the amount of worker in 4 different fields of the American economy from 1960 to 2020.
Overall, the sectors of retail and healthcare has seen an increase in workers meanwhile the number of job in agriculture and manufacturing has deacrease. While manufactering had initially the highest demand for workers, it has been overtaken by the healthcare and retail field.
Over the year, retail and healthcare needed more employee.
In 1960, 6 millions jobs were occupied in retail wich rised then constantly for 4 decades to reach 15 millions. This evolution slowed for the next 20 years with only a gain of 1 million workers.
The sector of healthcare had pretty much the same patern by starting low at only 3 millions in 1960 and increasing constantly to 16 millions in 2020
Regarding manufacturing and agriculture it globally decreased.
From 5 millions workers, the field of agriculture has decreased not so dramatically to reach 3 millions workers.
Finally manufactaring has firstly needed more workers by having a peak at 20 millions workers in 1980 and then had a rose decrease for the last 40 years.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response covers all four sectors and provides an overview highlighting the main trends, such as the growth in retail and healthcare alongside the decline in manufacturing and agriculture. However, there are some inaccuracies in reporting the data. For instance, the student states that agriculture started at '5 millions' (it was 6 million) and healthcare started at '3 millions' in 1960 (the visual data shows it at approximately 2 million). Additionally, some figures are generalised or omitted. Nevertheless, the main features and comparisons are successfully reported, placing the response solidly in Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response is organised into logical paragraphs, beginning with an introduction and overview, followed by body paragraphs dedicated to specific sectors. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Overall', 'While', and 'Finally', though some transitions feel a bit mechanical or repetitive. Referencing is generally clear, but paragraphing could be structured more cleanly, as some single-sentence paragraphs disrupt the flow. Progression is present, moving from general trends to specific data points, resulting in a Band 6.0 performance.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, attempting some less common items like 'overtaken', 'constantly', and 'dramatically'. However, there are numerous spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, such as 'amount of worker' instead of 'number of workers', 'deacrease' for 'decrease', 'manufactering' for 'manufacturing', 'patern' for 'pattern', 'wich' for 'which', 'rised' for 'rose', and 'rose decrease'. These errors occasionally distract the reader, though communication is not severely impeded, fitting Band 5.5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including subordinate clauses introduced by 'while' and 'by starting low'. However, grammatical control is inconsistent. There is a subject-verb agreement error in the overview ('the sectors of retail and healthcare has seen'), incorrect prepositions ('in 1960, 6 millions jobs were occupied in retail'), and tense confusion ('had a rose decrease'). While the meaning remains mostly clear, frequent errors in grammar and morphology keep the score at Band 5.5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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