Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

The line graph illustrates the number of jobs, in millions, in four sectors of the US economy from 1960 to 2020.

Overall, healthcare and retail experienced growth, whereas manufacturing and agriculture declined. By 2020, healthcare had become the largest employment sector, while agriculture had the fewest workers.

In 1960, manufacturing was the leading employer with 16 million jobs, followed by agriculture at 10 million. Retail provided just over 5 million jobs, while healthcare employed only 2 million people. By 1980, manufacturing had peaked at 20 million jobs. In contrast, agriculture fell slightly to 8 million. Over the same period, retail increased steadily to about 9 million, and healthcare doubled to 4 million.

After 1980, manufacturing declined sharply to 12 million in 2000 before falling to 9 million by 2020. Agriculture also continued to decrease, reaching only 2 million jobs. Meanwhile, retail grew gradually to around 14 million. Healthcare recorded the fastest growth, rising steadily to 17 million jobs and becoming the largest employment sector by the end of the period.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The student covers all parts of the task well, providing an overview of the trends and reporting key features and comparisons across the four sectors. However, there are some minor data inaccuracies when compared to the visual source. For instance, the student states that in 1960 manufacturing was 16 million and agriculture was 10 million, whereas the source indicates approximately 15 million and 6 million respectively. Similarly, figures provided for 1980 and 2000 deviate slightly from the chart. Despite these minor discrepancies, the overall response effectively highlights the major trends, such as the rise of healthcare and retail alongside the decline of manufacturing and agriculture.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response exhibits a clear overall progression and logical organization. Information is divided into logical paragraphs, with an introduction, a concise overview paragraph, and well-structured body paragraphs detailing the data chronologically. Cohesive devices are used adequately to connect ideas, such as 'Overall', 'In contrast', 'Over the same period', and 'Meanwhile'. Referencing is generally clear, and paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different time periods and groupings of data.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate and functional range of vocabulary suitable for an academic task, incorporating terms like 'illustrates', 'experienced growth', 'declined', 'peaked', 'fell slightly', and 'increased steadily'. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, though some word choices and figures are imprecise or slightly unnatural. Spelling and word choice errors are minimal and do not impede communication, allowing the reader to easily follow the report.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

The essay displays a good mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including subordinate clauses ('whereas manufacturing and agriculture declined', 'while agriculture had the fewest workers'). Grammatical control is generally sound, with frequent error-free sentences. Punctuation is accurate, and verbs and tense forms appropriate for past data are handled correctly throughout the report. Errors are rare and do not hinder the reader's understanding.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.