Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-26

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

Number of jobs in four sectors of the economy in the US, 1960-2020

Student answer (Band 5.0)

The line graph below illustrates the number of jobs in manufacturing, retail, agricultural and healthcare sectors of the economy in US in 190 and 2020. Overall, Healthcare and Retail sectors shared the same result in the year 2020, whilst Manufacturing decreased gradually by the year 2020. However Agricultural sector didn't showed any improvement and declined steadily. In the year 190 manufacturing provided the job from fifteen million to 20 million from year 190 to 1980 and then its number decreased over 11 million by 2020. However, Healthcare provided the least numbers of job in the start of year approximately 3 million , and then showed drastic improvement in total numbers of job that is over 13 million in the year 2020, on the other the number of jobs in retail rose from around 7 million to 13 million from 190 to 2020. Agricultural did not showed any signs of improvement, its figures declined from around 7 million to over 2 million by the year 2020.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.0
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.0

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response attempts to cover the main features of the graph, outlining general trends for the four sectors. However, there are significant inaccuracies in the data cited throughout the text. For example, the student writes 'in the year 190' (presumably meaning 1960) and misstates the figures, claiming manufacturing 'provided the job from fifteen million to 20 million from year 190 to 1980', and that healthcare started at approximately 3 million when the chart shows 2 million. Furthermore, the response is structured as a single block paragraph rather than properly paragraphed, and some comparisons are vague or inaccurate. It addresses the task only partially due to data confusion, earning a band score of 5.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response suffers from a complete lack of paragraphing, being presented as one single block of text, which severely impacts the overall organization and logical flow. While the writer attempts to use cohesive devices such as 'overall', 'whilst', 'however', and 'then', their management is mechanical and sometimes confusing. Progression is hindered by repetitive phrasing and numerous factual and typographical errors that disrupt the reading flow. Overall, the structural and cohesive weaknesses place this response at band 5.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is relatively basic and repetitive, frequently reusing terms like 'jobs', 'sector', 'improvement', and 'numbers'. There are also persistent typographical errors with years, such as writing '190' instead of '1960'. Attempts to use less common vocabulary are hindered by awkward collocations and inaccurate word choices, such as 'didn't showed any improvement' and 'provided the least numbers of job in the start of year'. The range is adequate for basic communication but contains noticeable errors, supporting a band score of 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response displays a very limited range of sentence structures, relying mostly on simple and awkwardly joined compound sentences. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including tense issues and subject-verb agreement mistakes, such as 'didn't showed', 'agricultural sector didn't showed', and missing pluralization or articles. Punctuation is also weak, particularly with comma splices and run-on sentences. These frequent errors cause some difficulty for the reader and reflect band 5.0 descriptors.

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