Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-04

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 illustration is showing data of numbers of jobs in the United States of America from 1960 t0 2020. In these 4 decades, trend of employment has been changed a lot. Overall, the health care and retail are the sectors which had offered more jobs in 2020 as compared to 1960.

As the graph shows, the manufacturing sector had the highest jobs in 1960. 15 million people were employed in this industry. The field kept growiing till 1980. At its peak, there were 20 million jobs in manufacturing.

On the other hand, the healthcare department had the lowest jobs in 1960. The surprising fact is that this sector has been evolving continuously. In 2020, it's among the highest jobs field in the U.S.

The retail sector had shown a continuous rise in these 6 decades. Meanwhile, the agricultural field had faced a drop in jobs. It's the healthcare department that had grown so far in these years.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response covers parts of the task by reporting several key features and general trends from the graph, such as the peak in manufacturing and the rise in healthcare and retail. However, some aspects of the task are only partially addressed. The overview is somewhat basic, noting only two sectors and missing key information about agriculture and manufacturing overall declines. Furthermore, some data details are vague or slightly imprecise, and the ideas lack full extension and support across all four economic sectors, resulting in an uneven treatment of the visual data.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is a general attempt to organise the response into an introduction, body paragraphs, and a brief conclusion-like ending, providing some overall coherence. However, the logical progression is at times faulty. The paragraphing is rudimentary, and cohesive devices are used somewhat mechanically or repetitively, such as the frequent reliance on 'On the other hand' or simple transitional phrases. Referencing can occasionally be unclear, and the overall flow between sentences does not consistently maintain a smooth, logical connection from one economic sector to the next.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, providing enough terms to describe general upward and downward trends, such as 'sector', 'industry', 'peak', and 'rise'. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary like 'evolving continuously', but these are accompanied by lexical inaccuracies and awkward phrasing, such as 'highest jobs field' instead of 'largest job market'. Spelling and word-choice errors occur, including the typo 'growiing', but they do not severely impede communication, though they reflect a limited and somewhat repetitive lexical range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The text displays a mix of simple and some attempted complex sentence forms, but control over grammar is inconsistent. There are noticeable errors in verb tenses and forms, such as 'The illustration is showing' instead of 'shows', and the typo 't0' in the opening sentence. Other issues include article misuse, such as 'trend of employment' lacking an article, and minor prepositional or agreement slips like 'highest jobs' instead of 'the highest number of jobs'. These errors occur with some frequency, though they rarely obscure the overall meaning of the sentences.

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