Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

The line chart illustrates the number of professions in four different departments of the economy in the United State from 1960 to 2020.

Overall, It can be seen that, the number of works in manufacturing and agriculture decreased over the given period. While retail and healthcare increased sharply. Units measured in millions.

Looking at the details, in 1960, the number of jobs in manufacturing area recorded at exactly 15 millions. After two decades it was gradually increase to a peak at exactly 20 millions then fell dramatically until the terminal year. Furthermore, the amount of employment sector in agriculture stood at approximately 5 millions in 1960. Then, the figure fell gradually over the next 2 decades, noticed over the 5 millions thereafter figure remained stable by the end of period.

Delving into the remaining details, the amount of job in retail and sectors witnessed at about 5 millions in 1960 and at approximately 3 millions in the initial year. Afterwards, they showed significantly increase till reaching just over 15s million in 2020.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student attempts to address the prompt by summarising the main trends for all four economic sectors between 1960 and 2020. An overview is present, identifying the overall upward and downward trajectories. However, there are notable factual inaccuracies and misreadings of the data. For instance, the text states that manufacturing peaked at 20 millions 'after two decades', which is accurate for 1980, but later describes agriculture as remaining stable after 5 millions, whereas the chart shows agriculture falling from 6 million in 1960 to around 3 million by 1980 and 2 million in 2020. Furthermore, the description of retail and healthcare in the fourth paragraph is confusingly phrased and contains inaccurate figures ('just over 15s million'). Consequently, the response covers the task only partially due to these data errors.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response is organised into four paragraphs, including an introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs detailing specific trends. Cohesive devices and transition signals are used to guide the reader ('Overall', 'Looking at the details', 'Furthermore', 'Delving into the remaining details'). However, paragraphing and referencing are sometimes faulty, and logical progression is hampered by confusing sentence structures in the body paragraphs. For example, the final paragraph attempts to group retail and healthcare together but mixes up the starting values and fails to present the distinct trajectories of the two sectors clearly. Overall arrangement is present, but cohesion is occasionally mechanical and imprecise.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The lexical range is adequate for the task, allowing the student to describe upward and downward movements using verbs like 'decreased', 'increased', and 'fell'. However, there are noticeable lexical and collocational inaccuracies throughout the text, such as 'professions' instead of 'jobs', 'departments' instead of 'sectors', and 'amount of employment sector'. There are also awkward word forms like 'millions' used as a noun modifier ('15 millions', '15s million'). These errors show a limited control of less common vocabulary and word formation, which occasionally causes difficulty for the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as introductory subordinate clauses ('While retail and healthcare increased sharply'). However, the text contains frequent grammatical and punctuation errors. Examples include tense and verb form errors ('it was gradually increase' instead of 'it gradually increased'), punctuation errors like unnecessary commas ('It can be seen that, the number'), and subject-verb agreement or phrasing issues ('the figure fell gradually... noticed over the 5 millions thereafter figure remained stable'). While meaning can generally be deciphered, the frequency of grammatical inaccuracies places the response firmly in the band 5 range.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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