Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-27

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 6.0)

The line graph illustrates the number of jobs in four different sectors of the US economy between 1960 and 2020.Overall, employment in the service sector increased dramatically throughout the period and became the largest source of employment. In contrast, the number of jobs in agriculture declined steadily. Manufacturing employment fluctuated slightly, while the construction sector experienced a gradual overall increase. In 1960, agriculture was the largest employer, with approximately 7 million jobs. Manufacturing accounted for around 8 million jobs, while construction and services provided about 3 million and 5 million jobs respectively. Over the following decades, employment in agriculture fell consistently, reaching roughly 2 million jobs by 2020.Manufacturing employment rose to approximately 14 million in 1980 before declining gradually to around 12 million in 2020. Construction followed a different pattern, increasing from about 3 million jobs in 1960 to approximately 6 million in 2020, despite some fluctuations during the period. The most significant change occurred in the service sector. The number of jobs increased steadily from around 5 million in 1960 to approximately 15 million in 1980, before rising further to about 30 million by 2020. Consequently, services became by far the largest employment sector at the end of the period, while agriculture became the smallest.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student covers all parts of the task well, providing an overview and reporting key data from the graph. However, there are some noticeable inaccuracies when compared against the visual reference data. For instance, the student reports that agriculture started at approximately 7 million jobs in 1960 and fell to 2 million by 2020 (which is reasonably accurate), but misidentifies the categories and trends for other sectors. Specifically, the student introduces 'construction' as a category, which is not present in the original graph (the four sectors are Manufacturing, Retail, Agriculture, and Healthcare), and mistakes Retail for Services. Furthermore, the final value for the healthcare/service sector is cited as 'about 30 million', whereas the highest value on the chart is around 16-25 million depending on the series. Despite these data misreadings, the overall structure of an Academic Task 1 response is present.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response is arranged logically with an introduction, a clear overall summary, and body paragraphs detailing specific data points. Cohesive devices are used to connect ideas, such as 'In contrast', 'Over the following decades', and 'Consequently'. Paragraphing is handled appropriately, with a separate introduction/overview paragraph and distinct body paragraphs for specific data descriptions. The progression of ideas is generally clear, although the misinterpretation of data categories slightly affects the logical flow of comparisons toward the end of the text.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for describing trends and changes, using terms such as 'fluctuated slightly', 'gradual overall increase', 'declined steadily', and 'most significant change'. However, there are notable lexical inaccuracies stemming from misidentifying the chart categories (substituting 'construction' for retail or manufacturing trends, and confusing 'retail' with 'services'). Spelling is generally accurate, but the misuse of key economic sector names impacts the precision and reliability of the lexical choices.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and introductory prepositional phrases effectively (e.g., 'Over the following decades, employment in agriculture fell consistently...'). Grammatical accuracy is generally good; most sentences are grammatically sound, and punctuation is handled correctly. Minor errors are infrequent and do not impede communication, allowing the reader to easily follow the sentence structures even though the underlying data being described contains inaccuracies.

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