Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

The line chart provides information about the four economy sectors in the US from 1960 to 2020.

In 1960, health care sector contribute the lowest to the economy having only 3 million jobs while mafacturing contribute the highest to the economy having 15 millions jobs. Retail and Agriculture starts from the same point having 6 million jobs in the year 1960.

Health care and Retail jobs shows a gradual increases in the number of jobs endedup the most significant sector contributing to economy having 16 million jobs in the year 2020. Agriculture sector shows a decrease of from 6 million jobs in the year 1960 to 3 million in the year 1980, till 2000 the number remains constant, aftward a slight decrease from 3 million to 2 million from the year 2000 to 2020. Manfacturing, the major sector of the economy in the year 1960 starting from 15 million jobs increases to 20 million jobs in the year 1980, making it again the most significant sector to the US economy, afterwards the decline of this sector till upto 2020, making it comparatively less contributing sector of economy to retail and healthcare.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the main overall movements: manufacturing rises to a peak before declining, retail and healthcare grow, and agriculture falls. You also include several relevant figures, such as manufacturing reaching 20 million in 1980 and agriculture ending at 2 million. However, there is no distinct overview that clearly summarises the most important comparisons across the period. Some descriptions are imprecise: healthcare and retail do not both rise gradually throughout, since manufacturing remains higher than retail in 2000, and healthcare only matches retail at 16 million in 2020 rather than becoming the sole leading sector. State these key relationships explicitly and organise the figures around them.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response follows a generally understandable sequence, moving from the starting figures to changes over time, and it uses time markers such as “In 1960,” “afterwards,” and “till 2000” to guide the reader. The information is mostly grouped by sector, which helps the comparison remain relevant. However, the response is presented as one long paragraph, and several ideas are joined into lengthy sentences, making the progression harder to follow. For example, the sentence beginning “Agriculture sector shows a decrease” contains several stages without clear punctuation. Use separate paragraphs for an overview and key details, and divide long descriptions into shorter, logically connected sentences.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant chart vocabulary, including “increase,” “decline,” “remains constant,” and “jobs,” and you attempt to describe relative importance with phrases such as “the most significant sector.” This gives you enough language to communicate the main trends, although some choices are repetitive or imprecise. “Contribute to the economy” is not the clearest way to describe employment figures; “employ” or “account for jobs” would be more natural. There are also noticeable spelling errors, including “mafacturing,” “Manfacturing,” and “aftward,” and awkward phrases such as “endedup” and “decrease of from.” Check spelling carefully and choose precise collocations for describing employment and changes.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentence forms, including a sequence describing agriculture’s changes from 1960 to 2020. However, errors in verb forms, agreement, articles, and sentence construction are frequent enough to make some sentences awkward. For example, “health care sector contribute” should use a singular verb, while “Retail and Agriculture starts” requires a plural verb. “Health care and Retail jobs shows” also has subject–verb disagreement, and “a gradual increases” combines an incorrect article with a plural noun. Some long sentences lack clear grammatical boundaries. Practise accurate present-tense descriptions and agreement, and use shorter sentences when reporting several stages of a trend.

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