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 illustrate the information regarding jobs produced by four different sectors ( manufacturing , retail , agriculture and healthcare ) in US around years of 1960 to 2020 in terms of millions of jobs produced per year.

We can found the uniform rise in sectors of retail and healthcare.Whereas, sectors of manufacturing and agriculture shown a significant depression by year 2020.

Descriptively, retail sector and agriculture sector were producing same numbers of jobs( 6M approximately ) until year 1960. Thereafter, we can see both followed defferent trends and while retali sector rose to 16M jobs by 2020, agriculture drops to just 2M (approx) jobs.

Moreover, both manufacturing ( 15M ) and healthcare ( 6M ) started with upward trend but then manufacturing sector after 1980. We therefore found retail sector to grow form 6M jobs to 16M jobs and same time manufacturing sector marks depression of 2M reaching to 12M job approximately by 2020.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the main features of the task, noting the general trends for the four sectors between 1960 and 2020. However, the development of ideas is limited and some data points are inaccurate or poorly communicated, such as misstating starting figures and confusing trends in the final paragraph where healthcare is mistakenly referenced alongside manufacturing. While an overview is attempted in the second paragraph, the lack of precise data handling and minor inaccuracies in reporting the visual information prevent the response from achieving a higher rating.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The text demonstrates some organisation with paragraph breaks separating the introduction, overview, and body details, but there is no clear overall progression. Cohesive devices are sometimes inaccurate or awkward, such as the abrupt transitions using 'Descriptively' and 'Moreover'. Referencing is occasionally unclear, particularly in the final paragraph where sentences feel disjointed and fail to guide the reader smoothly through the comparative data. Paragraphing is attempted, but internal logical flow requires better linking between ideas.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for the task, with attempts at less common items such as 'depression', 'trend', and 'approximately'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation issues, including spelling errors like 'defferent' and 'retali', as well as awkward phrasing such as 'marks depression'. These lexical errors and limitations mean that while communication is generally maintained, the range remains restricted and imprecise.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer uses a very limited range of sentence structures, and attempts at complex sentences are frequently faulty. There are multiple grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('The graph illustrate', 'agriculture drops'), incorrect verb forms ('We can found', 'sectors... shown'), and missing articles or prepositions. These frequent errors cause some difficulty for the reader and demonstrate weak control over basic and complex grammatical patterns alike.

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