Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-03

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 graph illustrates the progression in the amount of jobs over time in four different areas of the US economy during 1960 to 2020.

From an overall glance it can be seen there was a steady increase in the number of jobs in the retail and healthcare sectors, while the amount of jobs in the agriculture sector had a slight decline. In comparision the manufacturing sector saw a initial rise but then showed a downward trend.

During the 1960s, retail sector jobs saw their number to almost double. From 1980 to the 2000 the number further increased from 10 million jobs to 15 million, furthermore from 2000 to 2020 they was a slight increase of approximately 1 million jobs. Similarly jobs in the healthcare sector doubled in quantity from 1960 to 1980. During the next two decades the same trend continued with jobs increasing from 5 million to almost 11 million. From the year 2000 to 2020 the healthcare sector saw a further increase of almost 5 million jobs.

On the contrary the manufacturing industry initially saw a sharp rise of 5 million jobs from 1960 to 1980, but from 1980 to 2000 the growth turned into a downward trend, with numbers showing almost 3 millions jobs being reduced. This decline continued into the 20th century with the industry seeing a further decline of almost 3 to 3.5 million jobs. The agriculture industry initially had around 6 million jobs that almost halved in the next 20 years. In the next 2 decades the amount of jobs remained the same while only a slight reduction of around 500,000 jobs was seen from 2000 to 2020.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The response successfully covers all parts of the task by presenting an overview of the four sectors and reporting the main features with accurate data from the chart. You have correctly identified the overall upward trends in retail and healthcare, the steady decline in agriculture, and the rise followed by a fall in manufacturing. The information is well-selected, and the comparisons made between the sectors are relevant. To achieve a higher band, the overview could be slightly more polished, and the minor confusion regarding time periods, such as referring to the decline continuing into the '20th century' instead of the 21st, could be avoided. However, the core requirements of reporting trends and selecting main features are fully met.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall progression and is logically organised into paragraphs, with an introduction, an overview, and separate body paragraphs for the sectors. Cohesive devices are used to guide the reader through the data, such as 'Similarly', 'On the contrary', and 'During the 1960s'. However, cohesion occasionally feels slightly mechanical, and referencing is not always completely smooth, as seen in minor awkward transitions between sentences. Paragraphing is used appropriately to group related economic sectors together, but smoother linkage of ideas within paragraphs would elevate the coherence of the text.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items related to data trends such as 'progression', 'downward trend', 'doubled in quantity', and 'halved'. There are, however, some slight inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'the amount of jobs' instead of 'the number of jobs', and a spelling slip with 'comparision' instead of 'comparison'. These minor lexical errors do not impede communication and allow the reader to easily follow your data reporting, reflecting a solid, competent control of vocabulary for this level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The response displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, with attempts at relative clauses and time clauses. You demonstrate good control over past tense verbs used to describe historical data trends. However, there are some noticeable grammatical errors and awkward phrasing, such as 'saw their number to almost double' instead of 'saw their numbers almost double', and 'they was a slight increase' instead of 'there was'. Punctuation is generally acceptable, and while these errors persist throughout the text, they rarely impede communication, placing your grammatical control firmly within the expected parameters for this level.

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