Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-29

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 graph illustrates how emplyoment levels evolved across four different economic sectors of US-between 1960---2020.

Overall, the data reveals a structural economic shift, manufacturing fall after reaching it's peak in 1980, while retail and healthcare grow steadily, and agriculture remaining minimal change and stable in 1980.

In 1960, manufacturing employed 15 million workers, highest of all sectors, rising to 20 million by 1980 before falling sharply to 13 million by 2020. Conversely, healthcare started at 2 million and surged dramically by 1980 and reaching 16 million- an eightfold increase- effectively matching to retail which started from 6 million to 16 million over the period. Agriculture, meanwhile, dropped from 6 million to 3 million over the period and then show no significant change.

At first, retail and healthcare are low levels but after a period of time they show their growth and rise. Although manufacturing grow but droped gradually, same to agriculture which started low and show moderate change.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response covers all four sectors and reports the main trends and data points accurately. The student identifies the peak of manufacturing in 1980 at 20 million and its subsequent decline, as well as the substantial growth in retail and healthcare. The overview is present in the second sentence, noting the structural economic shift. However, there are minor lapses in precision and expression, such as stating that agriculture remained with 'minimal change and stable in 1980', which is slightly confusing since the drop occurred between 1960 and 1980. Despite these minor issues, the task is well addressed overall.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a clear overall progression, moving from an introductory overview to specific details in the body paragraph, followed by a concluding summary paragraph. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Conversely' and 'meanwhile', though some referencing and transitions in the final paragraph are a bit clunky, such as 'At first, retail and healthcare are low levels'. Paragraphing is present, but the structure could be tightened for better logical flow. Overall, the arrangement is coherent, satisfying the requirements for Band 6.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student attempts a range of vocabulary suitable for an Academic Task 1 response, using terms like 'structural economic shift', 'surged dramatically', and 'eightfold increase'. However, there are several lexical errors and awkward collocations, such as 'emplyoment levels' (spelling error), 'manufacturing fall' (grammatical form error), 'matching to retail', and 'droped gradually'. These errors do not impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score to a Band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as subordinate clauses ('while retail and healthcare grow steadily'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors in verb forms and agreement, including 'manufacturing fall after reaching it's peak', 'agriculture remaining minimal change', and 'Although manufacturing grow but droped'. Punctuation and hyphenation issues also appear, such as 'US-between 1960---2020'. The frequent errors in basic and complex structures place this response firmly in the Band 5.5 to 6.0 range.

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

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