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 compares the job occupancies in manufacturing, retail, agriculture and healthcare in America from 1960 to 2020.
Overall, in 1960, manufacturing sector had the highest number of jobs compared to others until 2000 after which retail and healthcare offered greater opportunities. Agricultural industry offered equal number of employments as selling business in 1960. However, it began to decrease afterward and remained at the lowest till 2020.
In the year 1960, production business offered by far the highest number of employments to around 15 million people. In comparison, retailing sector and agricultural industry had equal number of opportunities for the individuals (that is 5 million). Whereas, medical industry offered opportunities to below 5 million candidates. Manufacturing showed peak of 20 million in 1980 and began to decrease afterward.
On the other hand, retailing and agribusiness increased after 1960 until reached above 15 million by the year 2020. Medical domain, in contrast, swiftly declined and then leveled out at around 2.5 million from 1980 to 2020.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The student covers all parts of the task well, providing a clear overview and reporting the main trends and figures for the four sectors. However, there are some factual inaccuracies in the data reporting. For instance, the student states that the agricultural industry had an equal number of employments as the selling business in 1960 (both around 5 million, though retail was actually closer to 6 million), but then later states that the medical domain 'swiftly declined and then leveled out at around 2.5 million from 1980 to 2020'. Looking at the graph, healthcare actually experienced a massive and continuous increase from 2 million in 1960 to 16 million in 2020, while agriculture declined and leveled out at around 2 to 3 million. This confusion between the healthcare and agricultural sectors pulls the task score down to a band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The response is organized into clear paragraphs, beginning with an introduction and overview, followed by body paragraphs detailing specific data points. Cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'In the year 1960', 'In comparison', and 'On the other hand' are used to guide the reader through the information. However, referencing and logical progression are occasionally flawed due to the data confusion mentioned in task achievement. Paragraphing is used appropriately, and the overall arrangement is coherent, earning a solid band 6.5.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for an academic task 1 response, attempting less common collocations such as 'job occupancies', 'greater opportunities', and 'production business'. However, there are several lexical inaccuracies and awkward word choices, such as 'job occupancies' instead of 'employment figures' or 'number of jobs', and referring to healthcare as 'medical domain' and retail as 'retailing sector' or 'selling business'. Spelling is generally accurate, but the lexical control is limited, placing this criterion at a band 6.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The student employs a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as the introductory complex sentence 'The line graph compares the job occupancies in manufacturing... from 1960 to 2020.' There are some grammatical errors and awkward phrasing, such as missing articles ('manufacturing sector' instead of 'the manufacturing sector', 'retail and healthcare offered' missing a determiner, and 'until reached above 15 million' which should be 'until it reached'). Despite these errors, they rarely impede communication, and the writer demonstrates adequate control over basic grammatical forms, warranting a band 6.0.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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