Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-21

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 6.5)

The provided line graph illustrates the changes in employment figures, measured in millions, across four sectors of the US economy-Manufacturing, Retail, Agriculture, and Healthcare- between 1960 and 2020.

Overall, it is clear that employment in retail and healthcare increased over the 60 year-period, whereas agriculture experienced sustained decline. Manufacturing had the highest employment figures at the beginning, its workforce substantially fell, while healthcare recorded substantial growth and emerged as one of the largest employers in 2020.

In 1960, manufacturing accounted for the highest employment provider at 15 million, peaked at 20 million in 1980, before decling to approximately 13 million in 2000 and finished at nearly 7 million by 2020. In contrast, retail exhibited as moderate employer, which rose rapidly from around 6 million in 1960 to 10 million in 1980, and continued to grow at 16 million until 2020.

Furthermore, healthcare provided only 3 million jobs in 1960 after gradual increase to 5 million in 1980, in experienced sudden growth and emerged as the largest employer among all sectors and surpassed manufacturing around 2012 at 14 million and shared same position with retail in 2020 around 16 million. In terms of agriculture, it provided a considerablw number of job around 6 million in 1960 but started declining constantly in the following years and ended at only 3 million job in 2020.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The student covers all parts of the task well, providing a clear summary of the main trends across the four economic sectors between 1960 and 2020. An effective overall summary is included, highlighting the main contrasts between rising sectors like retail and healthcare, and declining ones like agriculture and manufacturing. Key features are selected and reported accurately, such as manufacturing peaking in 1980 and healthcare surging to match retail by 2020. However, there are some minor inaccuracies in data reporting; for example, the student states manufacturing finished at 'nearly 7 million', whereas the graph shows it at approximately 13 million in 2020, and agriculture is stated as ending at 3 million when it is closer to 2 million. Despite these minor data slips, the response fully addresses the prompt with clear comparisons.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The response is logically organized with a clear overall progression. The information is divided into sensible paragraphs, starting with an introduction and overview, followed by detailed body paragraphs that group the data effectively. Cohesive devices are used reasonably well, such as 'Overall', 'In contrast', 'Furthermore', and 'In terms of', which help to guide the reader through the data. However, referencing and cohesion are occasionally slightly mechanical or clumsy, as seen in phrases like 'manufacturing accounted for the highest employment provider at 15 million' (where 'employer' would be more appropriate). Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately throughout the response.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate to sufficient range of vocabulary for the task. Less common lexical items are attempted, such as 'employment figures', 'sustained decline', and 'emerged as one of the largest employers'. There are some vocabulary and collocation errors, such as 'highest employment provider' instead of 'largest employment sector', and spelling or word-form slips like 'decling' instead of 'declining' and 'considerablw' instead of 'considerable'. Additionally, the phrase 'in experienced sudden growth' contains a grammatical/lexical mix-up. Nevertheless, the lexical range is sufficient to convey the main trends clearly without impeding communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at subordination and relative clauses, such as 'The provided line graph illustrates the changes in employment figures... between 1960 and 2020.' There is a good variety of structures, but frequent errors persist, particularly with prepositions, articles, and verb forms (e.g., 'retail exhibited as moderate employer', 'after gradual increase', 'shared same position', and 'ended at only 3 million job'). While these errors do not impede overall communication, they prevent the text from achieving a higher band score due to their frequency within complex sentences.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.