Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-06

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 5.0)

The line graph below represent information about the number of jobs across 4 sectors of the economy in the us between the year of 1960 and 2020

overall , manufacturing has the highest number of opportunity in the year 1960, it has 15jobs retail had a decrease in the economy with 5 million jobs together with the Agriculture they both had equal number of vacany within the same year while

healthcare had the lowest job with about 3millions.

by the year 1980 they was an upward trend across manufacturingwhich also was the highest

20 , retail 10 health care 5 while agriculture was had the lowest number with a slight decline it was 3 million

in 2000 agriculture has the lowest job economy with 3million, there was a substianal increase in healthcare to 11, retail also had an increase to 15 while manufacturing declined to 14 in the last year 2020 manufacturing declined slightly to 13, retail increased to 15, healthcare rose and became the same number with health care 15 while least still remained agriculture .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response addresses the task partially. While the student attempts to report data from the line graph across the four sectors, the selection of information lacks clarity and contains inaccuracies, such as misinterpreting figures or reporting them confusingly. For instance, stating that retail 'had a decrease in the economy with 5 million jobs' in 1960 contradicts the visual data, and describing healthcare in the final year as becoming 'the same number with health care 15' is repetitive and unclear. An overview is attempted at the beginning, but it is underdeveloped and blends awkwardly into the specific details. To reach a higher level, the response needs a clearer, well-defined overview of the main trends and more precise, accurate reporting of the data without confusion between the categories.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

There is some organisation, but the overall progression lacks clarity. The text is largely divided into three block paragraphs, but the formatting is erratic with indentation issues and missing capitalization at the start of sentences. Cohesive devices are minimal, inadequate, and sometimes confusingly applied, such as starting sentences with lowercase letters or disjointed time markers like 'by the year 1980 they was an upward trend' and 'in 2000 agriculture has the lowest job economy'. Paragraphing is not used sufficiently to separate distinct decades or trends logically. To improve coherence, the student should ensure clear referencing, proper capitalization, and more purposeful cohesive devices to guide the reader smoothly through the temporal progression of the data.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The lexical range is limited but minimally adequate to describe the basic chart features. The student attempts some less common vocabulary such as 'substianal increase' and 'upward trend', but noticeable spelling errors ('substianal' instead of 'substantial') and awkward word choices ('job economy', 'highest number of opportunity') occur throughout. Some phrasing is repetitive or imprecise, such as referring to vacancies and jobs interchangeably. While communication is not entirely blocked, these lexical limitations and inaccuracies prevent the vocabulary from scoring higher. To enhance lexical resource, the student should use a wider variety of precise reporting verbs and nouns related to data trends, while paying closer attention to correct spelling and word forms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The response demonstrates a limited range of grammatical structures. Simple sentences are attempted, but attempts at more complex or compound structures are frequently faulty, leading to run-on sentences and punctuation errors, such as missing full stops and commas. There are frequent grammatical errors involving subject-verb agreement and tense consistency, such as 'they was an upward trend', 'agriculture has the lowest job economy', and mixing past and present tenses ('represent', 'has', 'had'). Articles and prepositions are also frequently misused. To improve, the student needs to exercise better control over basic sentence boundaries, ensure consistent past tense usage when describing historical data, and eliminate frequent structural errors that cause difficulty for the reader.

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