Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-23

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 5.0)

The given line graph delineate the four different economy sectors in the US between [redacted phone]. Manufacturing, Retail, Agriculture and Healthcare are the primary sectors of US economy this graph talks about.

The X axis represents different years ranging from 1960 to 2020 with 20 years gap, and the Y axis represents job available in markets in millions every year. All four sectors are indicated by different symbol such as straight line and dotted line.

From 1960 itself, manufacturing has played a major role for jobs keeping the US economy stable and steady, whereas the healthcare is the sector which has the least job market cap which has significantly improved its position by 2020. Retail and Agriculture are the areas that stood almost at same position initially with 6 millions jobs in US market but as time passed they both moved in completely opposite direction. Retail keeps on growing while Agriculture got a large deduction.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response attempts to cover the main trends in the chart, noting the general patterns for manufacturing, healthcare, retail, and agriculture between 1960 and 2020. However, the overview is somewhat underdeveloped, and the summary misses several specific key data points and comparisons, such as exact peak years (e.g., manufacturing peaking in 1980 at 20 million, or retail and healthcare both reaching 16 million in 2020). While the general trajectory is mentioned, the lack of precise figures and a clearer, comprehensive overview prevents it from reaching a higher band.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The writing has some basic organisation, dividing the response into an introduction, a description of the axes, and a body paragraph detailing the trends. However, the paragraphing is ineffective and unusual, such as devoting an entire paragraph to describing the X and Y axes instead of focusing on data trends. Cohesive devices are minimal and sometimes mechanical ('From 1960 itself', 'as time passed'), leading to a lack of smooth progression across the text.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for a basic summary, incorporating words like 'economy', 'significant', 'stable', and 'deduction' (though used inaccurately here). There are noticeable lexical errors, such as 'delineate' used with a singular subject ('graph delineate'), 'job available in markets' instead of 'available jobs', and 'deduction' used in place of 'decline' or 'decrease'. These errors cause occasional minor confusion, though communication is generally maintained.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several errors in subject-verb agreement and article usage, such as 'the healthcare is the sector which has the least job market cap' and 'different symbol such as straight line'. Punctuation is generally acceptable, but frequent minor slips in grammar and awkward phrasing restrict the score to this band.

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