Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

The given line graph ilustrates the data about four different employement sectors in economy of US between the time frame of 1960 and 2020.

Overall , the employement in manufacturing and agricultural sector demonstrates a gradually decreaing trend. Meanwhile there is a steady rise in retail and healthcare sector.

Production sector of US economy started from higher than all other three with fifteen million jobs in 1960 and this level peaked in 1980 when employes are almost 20 million in manufacturing industry. Meanwhile,in 2020 this sector showed a declining trend. However retail and healthcare moved in a parallel way and showed a constant rising trend and these both fields almost achieved 16 million mark in 2020.

Lastly, Agricultural sector in US economy has started with a notable rise in 1960 with almost 7 million employes but after that it droped to almost 2.5 million in 1980 and that pace remained almost same untill 2020.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student attempts to address all parts of the task by identifying the main features and trends across the four sectors. An overview is provided, noting the differing trajectories of manufacturing/agriculture versus retail/healthcare. However, there are some data inaccuracies and misreadings. For example, the student states that the agricultural sector started with a notable rise in 1960 with almost 7 million employees, whereas the visual data shows it started at around 6 million and declined immediately. Furthermore, the description of manufacturing states employees reached 'almost 20 million' in 1980 (which is accurate), but later mentions 'in 2020 this sector showed a declining trend' rather than giving the final figure of 13 million. Despite these minor data discrepancies, the main trends are captured, placing the response in Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response is organized into four paragraphs, including a suitable introduction, an overview paragraph, and body paragraphs discussing specific sectors. Cohesive devices are used to link ideas, such as 'Overall', 'Meanwhile', and 'Lastly'. However, paragraphing and referencing can be somewhat mechanical. For instance, the transition 'Production sector of US economy started from higher than all other three' abruptly introduces new data without fully smoothing the shift from the overview. Referencing is occasionally unclear, as seen in 'these both fields almost achieved 16 million mark'. Overall arrangement is coherent, allowing the reader to follow the general progression, which satisfies Band 6.0 criteria.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting words related to economic sectors and trends such as 'illustrates', 'employement', 'gradually decreaing', 'constant rising trend', and 'declining trend'. There are, however, a number of spelling and word-choice errors, including 'ilustrates', 'employement', 'decreaing', 'employes', and 'untill'. Additionally, some collocations are awkward, such as 'Agricultural sector in US economy has started with a notable rise'. While these errors do not impede communication, they restrict the lexical score to Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating conjunctions like 'while' and 'when'. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several structural and punctuation issues, such as a missing space after the comma in 'Overall ,', missing articles ('in economy of US', 'in manufacturing industry'), and subject-verb agreement or tense inconsistencies like 'has started with a notable rise in 1960' and 'it droped to almost 2.5 million in 1980'. These frequent errors place the response firmly in the Band 5.5 category, as structures are often faulty when complexity is attempted.

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

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