Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

The line graph gives us the information about the number of jobs in sectors of manufacturing, retail, agriculture, and Health care of the economy of America in years of 1960, 1980, 2000, and 2020.

Overall, the manufacturing and agriculutre showed a fall. While, healthcare and retailing sector blew a rise by passing years.

In 1960, jobs in healthcare was about 2 millions but after passing of time there was a sharp increase and goes upto almost 16 millions in 2020. There was a notabel change in manufacturing sector. It suddenly falls down from 20 millions jobs to almost 13 millions. The economy of retailing contributed for an increase in number of jobs from 5 to 15 millions in two years of 1960 and 1980 but after tht it remains constant in 2000 and 2020. Similarly, Agriculture jobs enhance over the years from 2 millions to 16 millions by year 2020.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

The response identifies all four sectors and attempts an overview, noting that manufacturing and agriculture fell while healthcare and retail rose. However, several key trends and figures are misreported, which makes the account only minimally accurate. Retail did not remain constant after 1980: it rose from about 10 million jobs in 1980 to 15 million in 2000 and 16 million in 2020. Agriculture declined from about 6 million to 2 million, rather than increasing from 2 million to 16 million; those figures describe healthcare in reverse. Manufacturing peaked at about 20 million in 1980 before falling, but the response does not establish this timeline clearly. Focus on accurate comparisons and a concise overview of the main changes.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

There is a basic structure: an introduction, an overview, and a paragraph with details. The overview also attempts to group the rising and falling sectors, giving the reader a starting point. However, the details do not progress clearly, and the account shifts between sectors without a consistent sequence. For example, the retail sentence moves from 1960 to 1980 and then incorrectly says the figure stayed constant, while the final sentence contradicts the overview by claiming agriculture increased. Linking expressions such as “Overall,” “While,” and “Similarly” are used, but some connections are inaccurate or awkward. Organise the details by trend—rising sectors together and declining sectors together—and use transitions that accurately show the relationship between the figures.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The response uses some relevant task vocabulary, including “line graph,” “number of jobs,” “sharp increase,” and “contributed,” so the topic is generally understandable. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, such as “blew a rise,” “a notabel change,” and “after passing of time.” “Retailing sector” and “agriculture jobs enhance” are also imprecise for describing the data. Spelling errors, including “agriculutre” and “tht,” further reduce control. Use standard trend language such as “rose steadily,” “declined,” “remained stable,” and “reached,” and check spelling and word forms carefully. More precise vocabulary would make comparisons clearer.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple and more complex sentences, including a contrast with “While” and a time clause beginning “after.” However, grammatical errors are frequent and sometimes make relationships between figures difficult to follow. Examples include “jobs in healthcare was,” where the plural subject requires a plural verb, and “it suddenly falls down,” which shifts tense in a past-period report. The sentence beginning “While, healthcare…” is incomplete, and “from 5 to 15 millions” has problems with number and plural form. Articles and sentence boundaries are also inconsistent. Practise writing complete past-tense sentences with clear subjects and verbs, and check agreement, plurals, and punctuation when describing each sector.

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