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 given linear graph illustrates the data about the employement in four sectors of the economy in the US begining from 1960 and ending at 2020.

Overall, in the begining the Manufacturing sector gives employement to the most number of people. In contrast Healthcare secor lied at bottom.

In 1960, Manufacturing sector leading for giving the most jobs to 15 million employees. by the year 1980 the numbers growed to 20 million after this the number dropped drastically and conclude at around 13 million. Whereas Retail and Agriculture sector started together for giving income to 6 million people. after sharing the same numbers of jobs provided Retail sector displayed a upper trend till the year 2000 then stayed static upward and in 2020 finish at 16 million.

On the other hand, Agriculture fall dramatically and concluded below only at 3 million. Healthcare sector had started almost the same where Agriculture finished at 3 million. In contrast to Agriculture it showed up trend. Even after began way lowwer than Retail it coclude at the same as retail at 16 million.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student attempts to address the task by reporting the main trends and data points from the line graph regarding job sectors in the US between 1960 and 2020. The overview correctly identifies that manufacturing started the highest and healthcare started at the bottom. However, there are significant inaccuracies in reporting specific figures and trends. For instance, the student states that retail and agriculture started together at 6 million, whereas agriculture actually started at 6 million but retail started at 6 million? Wait, looking at the data, retail was 6 million and agriculture was 6 million in 1960, which is correct, but the description of subsequent trends contains awkward phrasing and missed comparative highlights, such as retail and healthcare both finishing at 16 million. The response meets the minimum word count and covers all sectors, but the data reporting is somewhat imprecise, placing it at a Band 5.5.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The text is organised into four paragraphs: an introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs detailing the economic sectors. There is a basic attempt to structure the response logically, using transition signals such as 'Overall', 'In 1960', 'Whereas', and 'On the other hand'. However, the progression of ideas is sometimes mechanical or disjointed due to awkward phrasing and run-on sentences. Paragraphing is present, but internal cohesion is flawed, with repetitive sentence structures ('sector started together', 'sector displayed an upper trend') and unclear referencing. There is an over-reliance on basic cohesive devices, limiting the score to Band 5.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is relatively basic and repetitive, with frequent spelling errors such as 'employement', 'begining', 'secor', 'growed', 'coclude', and 'lowwer'. There are also lexical collocation errors, such as 'displayed an upper trend' instead of 'upward trend' and 'stayed static upward'. While the student attempts less common vocabulary like 'drastically' and 'static', the persistent spelling and word-choice errors noticeably impede smooth reading. The range of vocabulary is minimally adequate for the task, which corresponds to a Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response exhibits a very limited range of grammatical structures. Most sentences are simple or attempt complex structures that result in severe grammatical errors, such as 'Manufacturing sector leading for giving the most jobs' and 'by the year 1980 the numbers growed'. Punctuation is weak, with missing capitalisation at the start of sentences and after full stops (e.g., 'after sharing the same...'). Subject-verb agreement and tense consistency are frequently problematic (e.g., 'Agriculture fall', 'Healthcare sector had started almost the same where Agriculture finished'). Frequent errors cause some difficulty for the reader, placing this criterion at a Band 4.5, rounded to 5.0 based on positive descriptor matching.

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