Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

The illustration shows four sector of the United State economy and its employment numbers, spanning 1960 to 2020. Overall, the manufacturing sector absorb a massive figure of peoples while least one is the agricultural sector throughout the period.

It is quite evident from the graph chart that manufacturing are the dominating sector, reached a climax of 20 million peoples involved in this sector in 1980, however its trend got declining after 1980 and reached around 13 million job holders in this sector till 2020. In contrast, the agricultural sector has lower involvement in comparison with other and its number of people involved continuously declined throughout the period and reached an approximately 2 million people in 2020 which was around 6 million in 1960.

Furthermore, the health and retail sector employment level continuous on increasing and surpassed 15 million people worked in these sectors which were around 3 million for healthcare and around 6 million for retail in 1960.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student covers all parts of the task well by identifying the main trends and making relevant comparisons across the four economic sectors. The overview correctly highlights manufacturing as having the largest numbers and agriculture the lowest throughout the period. Key data points are accurately reported, such as manufacturing peaking at 20 million in 1980 and healthcare/retail rising to 16 million by 2020. However, there are minor awkward phrasings like 'least one is the agricultural sector' and occasional slight over-generalizations in data reporting, keeping this at a Band 6.5 or 7 level. Overall, the content fully addresses the prompt requirements.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and an overall trend identified in the first paragraph. Cohesive devices such as 'In contrast' and 'Furthermore' are used effectively to guide the reader through the data comparisons. Paragraphing is used appropriately, with each body paragraph dedicated to specific sectors. While the structure is coherent overall, referencing is occasionally imprecise, and some sentences feel slightly disjointed, which prevents it from reaching a higher band. However, progression is clear throughout the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms such as 'sector', 'employment numbers', 'climax', and 'surpassed'. However, there are notable word-form errors and unnatural collocations, such as 'four sector' instead of 'four sectors', 'absorb a massive figure of peoples' instead of 'absorbed a massive number of people', and 'trend got declining'. These vocabulary and collocation errors occasionally cause minor strain for the reader, placing the lexical control firmly at Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and comparative structures. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in subject-verb agreement and pluralization, such as 'manufacturing are the dominating sector' and '2 million people in 2020 which was around 6 million in 1960' (where punctuation and pronoun reference are slightly confused). While these errors rarely completely impede communication, they occur often enough to prevent the response from achieving a Band 6.0.

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

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