Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-07

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 data shows information about the number of jobs in four departments of economy from 1960 to 2020 in the US.

Overall, In US the jobs in sector Retail and Healthcare gradually increases with the period of time, While in Agriculture sector the jobs decreases with the passage of time. Meanwhile in Manufacturing sector number of jobs inclinded sharply and than instantly start declining till the end.

In the Retial jobs grew to 15 million from 1960 to 2020, at first it increases sharply but in the period of 2000 to 2020 for sometime it stay constant and than start increases slowly while in Healthcare departments there is no change jobs gradually increases from 2 to 15 million from 1960 to 2020.

Whereas in Manufacturing sector the jobs rose from 15 million to 20 million in the timeperiod of 1960 to 1980 and than sharply started declining from 1980 to 2020, meanwhile in the Agriculture sector jobs decreased from 6 million to 2.5 million in the time slot of 1960 to 1980, than till 2000 it stayed constant for a while and started decreasing again and reached around 1.8 million.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You cover all four sectors and give a relevant overview of their broad directions: retail and healthcare rise, agriculture falls, and manufacturing peaks before declining. Several figures and comparisons are also included, such as manufacturing increasing from 15 to 20 million by 1980. However, some details are inaccurate or unclear. Retail reaches about 16 million in 2020, not 15, and its growth does not level off between 2000 and 2020. Healthcare rises from 2 to about 16 million, rather than 15. Agriculture falls from about 6 to 3 million by 1980, not 2.5, and remains around 3 in 2000 before falling to about 2. The overview would be stronger if it highlighted that retail and healthcare finish joint highest.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs describing the sectors. Grouping retail with healthcare and manufacturing with agriculture makes the information easy to follow, and linking expressions such as “Overall,” “Meanwhile,” and “Whereas” help signal comparisons. However, some connections are mechanical or unclear. The long retail sentence combines several stages without clearly distinguishing the 1960–2000 rise from the later increase, and “while in Healthcare departments” makes the relationship between the two trends difficult to follow. The overview also repeats the sector-by-sector structure rather than sharply summarising the main contrast. Use shorter, clearly focused comparisons and ensure each linking word expresses the intended relationship.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant vocabulary for describing trends, including “gradually increases,” “declining,” “rose,” and “decreased,” and the reader can generally understand the comparisons. However, the range is limited and some word choices or collocations are inaccurate or repetitive. “Departments of economy” is not the natural term for these categories; “economic sectors” is more appropriate. “Inclinded sharply” appears to mean “increased sharply,” while “instantly start declining” does not accurately describe a gradual change over decades. There are also spelling errors such as “Retial” and “timeperiod.” Aim for precise trend language and check spelling, especially in key terms. More varied verbs such as “peaked,” “fell,” and “remained stable” would help describe the data accurately.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including comparisons joined with “while” and “whereas,” and the overall meaning is usually recoverable. However, some errors in verb forms, agreement, articles, and sentence construction reduce accuracy. For example, “jobs … gradually increases” needs subject–verb agreement, and “the jobs decreases” has the same issue. In “there is no change jobs gradually increases,” the clause structure is incomplete and the intended meaning is unclear. Tense control is also inconsistent: use past forms throughout when describing the 1960–2020 data, such as “increased” and “remained.” Break up long sentences and check agreement and punctuation; this will make your comparisons clearer while preserving your attempts at complex structures.

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