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 US economy from 1960 to 2020.

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

In 1960, maufacturing was the leading employer with the15 millions jobs, followed by agriculture at 6 million. Retail provided just 6 million jobs, while healthcare employed only 2 million people. By 1980, manufacturing had peaked at 20 millions jobs. In constrast, agriculture fell slightly to 3 million, over the same period, retail increased steadily to about 9 million and healthcare doubled to 4 million.

After 1980, manufacturing declined sharpily to 17 million jobs, before falling 8 million by 2020. Agriculture also continued to decrease reaching only 2 million jobs. Meanwhile, retail grew gradually 14 million. Healthcare recorded the fastest growth rising steadily to 17 million jobs and becoming the largest employement sector by the end of thr period.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The student successfully addresses all parts of the task by reporting the main features, trends, and key comparisons across the four economic sectors over the 60-year period. An appropriate overall trend is provided, noting that retail and healthcare grew while manufacturing and agriculture declined. Key data points are selected and reported, such as manufacturing peaking at 20 million in 1980 and healthcare becoming the largest sector by 2020. However, there are some minor data inaccuracies and awkward phrasings, such as stating 'the15 millions jobs' and mentioning that manufacturing fell '8 million by 2020' (instead of to 13 million). Despite these minor miscalculations, the response fully covers the visual data and presents a clear overview.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response is logically organised with a clear overall progression. It begins with an introductory sentence, followed by an overview paragraph, and then breaks down the body of information chronologically (1960-1980 and post-1980). Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct time periods. Cohesive devices such as 'Meanwhile', 'In constrast', and 'After 1980' are employed to guide the reader through the data. However, referencing and cohesion are occasionally faulty or mechanical, as seen in minor awkward transitions and typographical errors like 'thr period' and 'In constrast', which slightly detract from the overall flow.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms such as 'illustrates', 'experienced growth', 'peaked', 'declined sharply', and 'employement sector'. There are several attempts to use less common vocabulary, though these are accompanied by spelling and word-choice errors, such as 'maufacturing' (repeated multiple times), 'employement', and collocation slips like 'fell 8 million' rather than falling by a certain amount or reaching a specific figure. While these lexical errors are noticeable, they do not impede communication, allowing the reader to easily follow the intended meaning.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing subordinate clauses and temporal markers effectively (e.g., 'while agriculture had the fewest workers' and 'before falling 8 million by 2020'). There are several grammatical and mechanical errors present throughout the text, including article misuse ('the15 millions jobs', 'largest employement sector by the end of thr period'), pluralisation errors ('20 millions jobs'), and spelling slips ('sharpily'). Despite these frequent minor errors in punctuation and grammar, control is generally maintained and the errors rarely impede communication.

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