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 provided graph illustrates the ax number

The provided graph illustrates the distribution of jobs in four sectors of economy in the US over the time span of 60 years between 1960 to 2020.

overall, Retail and healthcare showed constant increase in number of jobs over the time gap becoming the highest job provider at the end of 2020, whereas, Both Manufacturing and agriculture showed a decline below their original number of job available in 1960.

In 1960, Manufacturing sector accounted for highest number of job with 15 million in total, ont the other hand Healthcare stands at just below 5 million jobs in total with Retail and agriculture having over 5 million jobs each. While Manufacturing shows a increase in number of jobs in 1980 which raised to over 20 million jobs and then shows sudden decline in 2000 and ultimately looses it's title of highest job available is 2020 with just below 15 million.

On contrast to manufacturing Retail shows constant decline is number of jobs and by the year 2020 it's number decline below any other suts with just a little more that 1 million. Whereas at both Healthcare arf Retail shows constant increase is number of jobs provided by ther suts and by the year 2020 its value reached over 15 million each

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The student attempts to cover all four sectors and their overall trends over the 60-year period, successfully identifying that retail and healthcare increased while agriculture and manufacturing declined. However, there are significant factual inaccuracies in the body paragraphs that contradict the visual data. For instance, the student states that 'Retail shows constant decline is number of jobs', whereas the graph clearly shows retail rising steadily from 6 million to 16 million. Similarly, confusion arises regarding healthcare and retail at the end of the text. Furthermore, the overview mentions a 'constant increase' for retail and healthcare, which is generally accurate, but the detailed body text misinterprets several data points. Therefore, this falls under Band 5 due to inaccurate reporting of key data features.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response is organised into multiple paragraphs, including an introduction and an overview, which is appropriate for Academic Task 1. However, the logical progression is undermined by major factual misinterpretations and confusing referencing. For example, the transition phrase 'On contrast to manufacturing Retail shows constant decline' directly contradicts the graph and creates internal contradiction with the overview. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'whereas' and 'in 1960', but referencing and logical flow break down due to confused wording ('Whereas at both Healthcare arf Retail shows constant increase'). Paragraphing is present, but overall cohesion is faulty, placing it securely at Band 5.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary to discuss economic sectors and trends, using words like 'distribution', 'sector', 'decline', and 'accounted for'. However, there are numerous spelling and word-choice errors that detract from the writing, such as 'looses' instead of 'losses' or 'loses', 'suts' instead of 'sectors', and 'arf' instead of 'and'. There is also a reliance on repetitive phrasing ('number of jobs'). While the range is minimally adequate for the task, the frequent lexical errors and typos limit the score to Band 5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, incorporating relative clauses and time clauses (e.g., 'The provided graph illustrates the distribution of jobs...'). However, grammatical accuracy is weak, featuring frequent errors such as subject-verb agreement issues ('Healthcare stands', 'Retail shows', 'values reached'), missing prepositions, and awkward phrasing ('ont the other hand'). Punctuation is also problematic, with run-on sentences and missing capitalization at the beginning of the overview sentence ('overall, Retail...'). These frequent errors can occasionally cause difficulty for the reader, matching the Band 5 descriptors.

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