Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-09

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 6.0)

The line chart illustrates the information of four sectors and number of jobs in US between 1960 and 2020.

Taking a general overview, it is clearly obsrved that in whole time period Manufacturing and Agriculture depicted downfall in number of jobs. On the other hand, Retail and Healthcare followed totally opposite trend of rising in jobs.

To begin with, the Retail and Agriculture where in 1960 the number of jobs were almost same which was 6 million and from that year both sectors took different turns where the jobs in Retails went up to 16 million and in Agriculture it fall to 3 million in 2020.

Moving further to remaining sectors where in manufacturing the jobs took rose upto 20 million in 1980 but it experinced downfall and reached to 13 million in 2020. In contrast, the jobs in Heathcare were lowest from all other sectors but form 1960 it took drastic increment and become the sector with highest number of jobs same as Retail with 15 million jobs in 2020.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You identify the main overall contrast: manufacturing and agriculture decline over the period, while retail and healthcare grow. You also include several relevant figures, such as manufacturing peaking at 20 million in 1980 and retail reaching 16 million by 2020. This gives the report a clear basis and addresses the main trends. However, some details are incomplete or inaccurate: agriculture falls to about 2 million, not 3 million, in 2020, and healthcare and retail finish level at approximately 16 million each, rather than healthcare having 15 million. The overview also overgeneralises manufacturing as declining throughout, although it first rises. More precise comparisons and a clearer account of the endpoint rankings would make the key features more fully developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, an overview and two detail paragraphs. The broad progression from the overall trends to sector-specific information is easy to follow, and phrases such as “On the other hand” and “In contrast” help signal comparisons. However, the grouping of retail with agriculture, followed by manufacturing with healthcare, makes the comparisons less consistent because each pair moves in opposite directions. Some linking phrases are also awkward or repetitive, including “To begin with” and “Moving further to remaining sectors.” The long sentences in the detail paragraphs combine several changes without clear separation. Grouping the two rising sectors together and the two declining or fluctuating sectors together, with clearer sentence boundaries, would improve progression and cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant chart vocabulary, including “number of jobs,” “trend,” “reached” and “increment,” and you attempt a range of expressions to describe change. However, several choices are inaccurate or unnatural for this task, such as “depicted downfall,” “took different turns,” “took rose” and “drastic increment.” There are also spelling errors in “obsrved,” “experinced” and “Heathcare,” which reduce the accuracy of the vocabulary. “Retails” is not the appropriate form when naming the sector. These issues do not prevent the reader from understanding the main message, but they make the report less precise and fluent. Prefer standard collocations such as “declined,” “increased sharply” and “the retail sector,” and check spelling carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including clauses beginning with “where” and “but,” and the overall meaning is generally understandable. However, some sentence structures are faulty, particularly where several ideas are joined together: “where in manufacturing the jobs took rose upto 20 million” is difficult to parse. There are also errors in verb forms and agreement, as in “it fall to 3 million” and “the number of jobs were almost same.” Articles and sentence construction are sometimes missing or awkward, for example “Healthcare were lowest from all other sectors.” These errors make parts of the report less clear, even though the main trends can be followed. Build shorter, complete sentences and check subject–verb agreement and past-tense forms.

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