Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-30

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 graph illustrates the information about the number of jobs in united states in four economic sectors such as manufacturing, retail, agriculture and healthcare between 1960 and 2020.

Overall, the graph shows the rising trend for healthcare and retail, which meets at a point and reached its maximum level. While, agriculture also starts with retail, but retail goes in declining trend and then continue decreasing while agriculture goes upwards. Whereas, manufacturing starts with rising trend, but then continue declining.

In 1960, manufacturing starts with 15 million jobs and then reached 20 million jobs in 1980, which than start declining to 13 million jobs in 2020. Healthcare and retail start in rising trend in 1960 from 3 million and 6 million jobs respectively which than continue rising and reached to maximum of 16 million in 2020. While agriculture start from 6 million jobs in 1960 and goes in declining trend throughout and reached to 3million after 20 years.

In conclusion, healthcare and retails shows increasing flow, while manufacturing first increases but shows decreasing flow after that. Whereas, agriculture continue decreasing throughout the time period.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student attempts to address all parts of the task by reporting the main trends and making some comparisons across the four economic sectors between 1960 and 2020. An overview is provided, noting the rising trends for healthcare and retail and the declining trends for manufacturing and agriculture. However, there are some inaccuracies in reporting the data: for instance, the student states that healthcare and retail start in 1960 from '3 million and 6 million jobs respectively', whereas the visual data shows healthcare at 2 million. Furthermore, the description of agriculture's starting point and trajectory is slightly confused ('While agriculture start from 6 million jobs in 1960 and goes in declining trend throughout and reached to 3million after 20 years'). Nevertheless, the main features are broadly captured, placing this response at Band 5.5 to 6.0. It meets Band 6 as it addresses all parts of the task with relevant ideas, though some details are under-developed or imprecise.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognizable overall structure with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a concluding summary. Paragraphing is attempted, although the division is somewhat basic. Cohesive devices are used, but their application is frequently mechanical or repetitive, such as the heavy reliance on 'while', 'whereas', and sequential transitions like 'and then' and 'which than'. Referencing and logical progression are occasionally hindered by awkward phrasing, making the flow somewhat disjointed in places. For example, the sentence 'While, agriculture also starts with retail, but retail goes in declining trend...' creates confusion in referencing and logical flow. Overall, the organization is coherent enough to be followed, aligning with the characteristics of Band 5.5 to 6.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully employing sector-specific terms such as 'manufacturing', 'retail', 'agriculture', and 'healthcare', alongside general economic terms like 'jobs', 'sector', 'rising trend', and 'declining trend'. However, there are noticeable lexical inaccuracies and spelling/word-form errors, such as 'united states' (capitalization), 'which than' instead of 'which then', 'retails' instead of 'retail', and 'increasing flow' rather than 'upward trend' or 'growth'. The range of vocabulary is limited to basic functional terms with few successful attempts at less common lexical items. These errors do not completely impede communication, but they restrict the score to Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and subordinate clauses (e.g., 'which meets at a point and reached its maximum level', 'While agriculture start from 6 million jobs in 1960...'). However, grammatical control is inconsistent, with frequent errors in tense consistency, subject-verb agreement, and prepositions. Examples include 'starts with 15 million jobs and then reached' (tense shift), 'agriculture start' (lack of agreement), and 'reached to' (unnecessary preposition). Punctuation is also problematic in places, such as comma splices or misplaced commas ('While, agriculture also starts...'). Because errors are frequent in complex structures and cause some strain for the reader, the response fits Band 5.0.

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