Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-05

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 number of jobs in four sectors from the year 1960 to 2020 in US.

Overall, jobs in manufacturing sector was highest in demand in the year 1960 which is approximately 15 million.

In the year 1960, jobs in retail and agriulture sector were competing simultaneously. Demand of jobs in both the sectors were almost same which is about 5 million. At that time, healthcare was least prefered job and approximately only 2.5 million people were working in it.

During the year 1980, jobs in agriculture sectors had fell sharply from 5 million to roughly around 3 million. At the same time there was incline in the manufactuing sector and it reached its all time high of 20 million jobs in 1980. while other two sectors such as retail and health had climed steadly.

In the year 2020, agriculture sector has fallen to it lowest which is nearly 14 million jobs. there was a enormous hike in the number of jobs in retail and healthcare which is about 15 million in 2020. Although every sector had a steady incline and fall, agriculture had declined in the number of job and came to approximately number of 2 miillion jobs remained in the ending year.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

The response attempts to present an overview and cover the four economic sectors, but it only partially addresses the requirements of the task. The introductory overview is very limited, focusing only on a single data point in 1960 rather than the overall trends. Furthermore, there are significant factual inaccuracies in the reporting of the data from the visual. For instance, in the final paragraph, the student claims that the agriculture sector 'has fallen to it lowest which is nearly 14 million jobs,' whereas the graph clearly shows agriculture dropping to approximately 2 million, while retail and healthcare reach around 16 million. Because key data points are misread or misreported and the overview lacks a complete summary of major trends, the response sits at this level.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The text demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt to structure the response into paragraphs representing different time periods. Ideas are generally grouped logically, with an introduction, body paragraphs dealing with 1960 and 1980, and a concluding paragraph for 2020. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. For example, transitional phrases and referencing are occasionally awkward or imprecise, such as 'At that time' and the abrupt shifts between sentences in the final paragraph. Paragraphing is present and helps navigate the text, but the mechanical nature of the linking devices and some lack of clear progression between ideas keep the response at this band.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

An adequate range of vocabulary is attempted for the task, including terms like 'sectors,' 'demand,' 'simultaneously,' and 'steadly.' However, there are noticeable errors in word choice, spelling, and word forms that cause some difficulty for the reader. Examples include spelling mistakes such as 'agriulture,' 'manufactuing,' 'climed,' and 'steadly.' Furthermore, phrasing like 'least prefered job' and 'enormous hike' shows limited precision and control over less common lexical items, placing the response firmly in this band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response displays a limited range of grammatical structures, relying mostly on simple and straightforward sentence patterns. Attempts at complex sentences are frequently marred by errors in verb tenses, subject-verb agreement, and articles. For example, the student writes 'jobs in manufacturing sector was highest' instead of 'were,' 'agriculture sectors had fell' instead of 'fell,' and misses necessary articles as in 'in US.' Punctuation and capitalization errors, such as starting sentences with lowercase letters ('there was a enormous hike'), also occur. These frequent errors in basic and complex structures can cause occasional difficulty for the reader.

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