Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-28
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 line graph displays information about the manufacturing, Retail, agriculture, and healthcare sectors of the United States from 1960 to 2020.
Overall, three sectors have shown a significant rise from 1960 to 2020. In contrast, retail had a marginal drop.
In 1960, manufacturing had 15 million jobs, which rose to 20 million in the following year and then started to decrease till 2020, ending at around 18 million jobs, whereas the highest rise was in the healthcare sector, started availability under 5 million and ends st somewhere about 16 million. Agriculture also showed a great increase from 5 million in 1960 to 15 million by 2000 and afterwards a constant growth till 2020.
In contrast, if we take the retail sector, it had 5 million jobs in 1960, however it fell to roughly 2.5 million by 1980 and kept falling by 2020. This is the only sector that had gone down.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 4.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5
The student attempts to cover all four sectors across the given time period, but the response suffers from major data inaccuracies that contradict the visual data. For instance, the text states that retail had a marginal drop and went down to 2.5 million, whereas the graph clearly shows retail rising significantly from 6 million in 1960 to 16 million in 2020. Similarly, agriculture is described as increasing to 15 million by 2000 with constant growth, whereas the chart shows agriculture falling from 6 million to 2 or 3 million. Furthermore, manufacturing is stated to end at around 18 million in 2020, while the chart shows it dropping to 13 million. These severe misinterpretations of the visual data prevent the response from fully satisfying the requirements of Task Achievement.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0
The response is structured into an introduction, an overview paragraph, and two body paragraphs, which follows a logical layout for Task 1. Cohesive devices such as 'In contrast' and 'whereas' are attempted, but their usage is frequently confused due to the underlying factual inaccuracies in the content. For example, 'In contrast, if we take the retail sector...' introduces a comparison that is conceptually muddled by the incorrect data being reported. Paragraphing is present and appropriate for the length of the text, but the overall progression lacks internal clarity because the trends described do not align with the visual evidence provided.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is generally basic and repetitive ('rose', 'increase', 'growth', 'rise'). There are also notable lexical errors and imprecise collocations, such as 'started availability under 5 million' and 'ends st somewhere about 16 million'. Less common lexical items are attempted ('marginal drop', 'constant growth'), but inaccurate word choice and spelling mistakes (e.g., 'st' instead of 'at') restrict the score. The range of vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey basic topic-related concepts, but frequent imprecise usage limits communication.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but many complex constructions contain grammatical errors or awkward phrasing, such as 'whereas the highest rise was in the healthcare sector, started availability under 5 million and ends st somewhere about 16 million.' Punctuation and verb tense consistency are problematic throughout the text, notably shifting awkwardly between past and present descriptions without clear control. Frequent errors in clause formation and preposition usage cause some difficulty for the reader, aligning with Band 5 descriptors.
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