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 line graph illustrates the number of jobs in four different sectors of the US economy—manufacturing, retail, finance and other services—from 1960 to 2020.

Overall, employment in manufacturing declined considerably over the period, while the number of jobs in the other three sectors increased. Other services experienced the most significant growth and became the largest employment sector by 2020. Manufacturing, in contrast, ended with the lowest figure.

In 1960, manufacturing was the largest employer, with approximately 14 million jobs. This figure remained relatively stable until around 1980, after which it began to fall steadily. By 2020, the number of manufacturing jobs had dropped to roughly 5 million. Retail employment, meanwhile, increased gradually from about 7 million in 1960 to around 15 million in 2020, despite some fluctuations.

Finance also showed an overall upward trend. Starting at approximately 3 million jobs in 1960, employment in this sector rose steadily to about 10 million by 2020. The most dramatic growth occurred in other services. The number of jobs in this sector increased from roughly 6 million in 1960 to around 20 million in 2020, making it the largest sector at the end of the period.

In summary, while manufacturing lost a substantial number of jobs, employment in retail, finance and other services expanded, with other services showing the greatest increase.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.5

The student attempts to address the task by summarizing the main trends in the line graph. However, there are significant discrepancies between the student's descriptions and the actual visual data provided in the prompt. The student labels the four sectors as manufacturing, retail, finance, and other services, whereas the graph actually depicts manufacturing, retail, agriculture, and healthcare. Furthermore, the specific data points cited (e.g., stating manufacturing started at 14 million or dropped to 5 million, and retail reached 15 million in 2020) do not accurately reflect the source data. Although an overview is provided and comparisons are made, the misidentification of economic sectors and inaccuracies in data reporting prevent a higher score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response demonstrates a clear overall structure with an introduction, body paragraphs addressing specific categories, and a concluding summary. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different parts of the analysis. Cohesive devices are employed to link ideas together, such as 'Overall', 'In 1960', 'meanwhile', and 'In summary'. While the progression of ideas is logical at the paragraph level, referencing and cohesion are somewhat formulaic and repetitive. Nevertheless, the text flows reasonably well and is easy to follow despite the underlying data inaccuracies.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for a Task 1 response, utilizing appropriate functional verbs and adjectives such as 'considerably', 'fluctuated', 'upward trend', and 'dramatic growth'. However, due to the misreading of the chart, key lexical items regarding the economic sectors themselves ('finance' and 'other services' instead of 'agriculture' and 'healthcare') are incorrect. Despite this content error, the attempt to use less common vocabulary shows an acceptable lexical control for a moderate band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

The response features a satisfactory mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including dependent clauses and introductory prepositional phrases (e.g., 'By 2020, the number of manufacturing jobs had dropped to roughly 5 million'). There is good control over tense usage, primarily past simple for historical data points and present/past contrasts. Grammatical errors are minimal, and punctuation is handled adequately, allowing the reader to comprehend the sentence structures without difficulty.

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