Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

The line chart illustrates the data of four factors of the economy about the employment mentioned in millions in the US between 1960 and 2020.

Overall, the figures of retail and healthcare sectors followed an upward trend overall the period. Initially maufacturing sector accounted increase, after some years it dropped, whereas agriculture represented downward trend over the time.

The proportions of retail and healthcare had rose dramatically over the period, reached 15 millions and 10 millions in 2000 and hit the highest point at 16 millions in 2020.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

The response fails to meet the minimum word length requirement of 150 words, stopping at only 88 words. Consequently, the coverage of the task is severely curtailed. While the student attempts an overview and mentions some trends and figures, such as retail and healthcare reaching 16 million in 2020, key features of agriculture and manufacturing are incomplete or underdeveloped. The overview is overly brief and lacks sufficient detail across all four economic sectors. To reach a higher band, the writer must ensure they write at least 150 words and provide a fully developed overview alongside precise reporting and comparison of all main trends shown in the graph.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The text is divided into an introduction, an overview paragraph, and a single body paragraph. There is a basic attempt to organise information logically, moving from general statements to specific figures. However, due to the extremely short length, logical progression is restricted. Cohesive devices are minimal and sometimes awkward, such as 'overall the period' instead of 'over the period', and typos like 'maufacturing'. Paragraphing is attempted, but the final body section is truncated and lacks clear cohesion to support a complete analytical argument. A stronger response would feature better paragraph separation and a wider range of cohesive links.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student demonstrates an adequate basic vocabulary related to graphs and economic sectors, using terms like 'upward trend', 'downward trend', 'retail', and 'healthcare'. However, there are notable spelling errors, such as 'maufacturing', and lexical inaccuracies, such as 'accounted increase' and 'had rose'. The range of vocabulary is limited, and expressions are sometimes unnatural or repetitive. To achieve a higher score, the student needs to incorporate a wider variety of precise academic collocations and ensure accurate grammatical forms for vocabulary items.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as using 'whereas agriculture represented downward trend'. However, grammatical control is weak. There are noticeable errors in tense and verb forms, including 'had rose' instead of 'rose' or 'had risen', and missing articles ('the employment', 'represented downward trend'). Prepositional usage is also occasionally flawed ('overall the period'). While meaning is generally clear despite these errors, the high frequency of basic structural inaccuracies limits the score to Band 5.

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

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