Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-22

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 6.0)

The line graph compares the number of jobs in four sectors revenue in the United States from the year1960 to 2020.

Overall, the highest number of employment rate was seen in the manufacturuing sector in the year 1960. However, over the given period retail and healthcare industry offered large amountof jobs in 2020.

On a closer inspection, in 1960 the manufacturing industry had the highest number of positions which were 15 million which increased by another 5 million in the next two decades. After that in the consecutive decades there was decline in the employment opportunities offered by manufacturing industry reaching to around 13 million positions by 2020.Similarly, the opportunities to work in agriculture industry also diminished over the decades which gave more than 5 million jobs in 1960 ended up reaching merely 2 million jobs by 2020.

Alternatively, the two other industries that is retail and healthcare had seen a gradual inclination over the period of time beginning from 6 million and 2 million openings respectively in 1960 to offering more than 15 million posts by 2020.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The student covers all parts of the task by reporting the main features and making relevant comparisons across the four sectors between 1960 and 2020. The overview is reasonably clear, capturing the shifts in employment dominance. However, there are minor inaccuracies in the interpretation of the data: for instance, the student states that the highest number of employment rate was seen in the manufacturing sector in 1960 (manufacturing was actually 15 million, whereas retail reached 16 million by 2020). Despite these minor misreadings of the graph, the core trends are well identified and supported with figures, such as 15 million in 1960 and 13 million in 2020 for manufacturing.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response is logically organised into an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs detailing the specific sectors. Cohesive devices such as 'On a closer inspection', 'Similarly', and 'Alternatively' are used to guide the reader through the data, although some transitions feel slightly mechanical. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate declining sectors from growing ones. Referencing is generally clear, though occasional clumsy phrasing in transitions slightly disrupts the natural flow of information.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with attempts to use less common items such as 'diminished', 'inclination', and 'consecutive decades'. However, there are some noticeable word choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as 'sectors revenue' instead of 'economic sectors', 'employment rate' instead of 'number of jobs', and 'gradual inclination' instead of 'upward trend' or 'growth'. Spelling contains a minor slip ('manufacturuing'). Overall, the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the main message, but precision is lacking.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and participial phrases (e.g., 'which gave more than 5 million jobs in 1960 ended up reaching...'). There are several grammatical errors and awkward structures, such as missing articles ('in agriculture industry'), fused relative clauses ('industries that is retail and healthcare'), and minor prepositional issues. Punctuation is generally acceptable, and while errors are present, they rarely impede overall communication.

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