Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-13

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 graph shows the jobs market in US economy during time period of 1960 to 2020 in four different sectors.

Overall, health care sector provided largest number of jobs between all the sectors from starting to end in the given time period followed by retail sector which also increased number of jobs from start to end. In contrast manufacturing sector after reaching its peak job market showed biggest decline compared to other sectors while agriculture job market almost remained constant.

At first manufacturing sector started from 15 million jobs in 1960 and reached its peak in 1980 with 20 million jobs but started to decline afterwards and fell to almost 13 to 14 million jobs. In contrast retail sector performed better started from almost 6 million jobs in 1960 and gradually increased every year till 2000 to 15 million jobs and then from 2000 to 2020 remained almost constant there.

while agriculture sector also showed gradual increase in job numbers from almost 3 million in 1960 to 5 million in 1980 and then rapidly increased to 10 million till year 2000 and added 15 million jobs in 2020 in contrast agriculture sector didn't fluctuate much it decreased from 5 million to almost 3 million in 1980 and then remained constant throughout the time period.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

The response identifies several relevant trends, including manufacturing’s rise to a peak in 1980 and subsequent decline, and agriculture’s overall fall. However, the overview contains a major misreading: healthcare was not the largest sector throughout; it began at about 2 million jobs and only reached the joint-highest level, around 16 million, by 2020. The final paragraph then confuses the sectors and reverses their trends, attributing rising figures to agriculture before describing agriculture’s actual decline. Retail also rose to about 16 million by 2020 rather than remaining near 15 million. These inaccuracies leave the main features only partially reported. Clearly separate each sector and accurately summarise the start, end, and key turning points.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

There is a basic overall structure: an introduction, an overview, and a paragraph with details. The use of contrasts such as “In contrast” also shows an attempt to connect comparisons. However, progression becomes difficult to follow in the final paragraph, where the account shifts between retail and agriculture and repeats “in contrast” without making the comparison clear. The long final sentence combines several trends, and the reader has to work out which figures belong to which sector. Use one focused paragraph for manufacturing and retail and another for healthcare and agriculture, or give each sector a clearly signposted sentence. More precise referencing and simpler links would make the organisation easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The response has an adequate range for describing a line graph, including “reached its peak,” “decline,” “gradually increased,” and “remained constant.” These expressions help communicate changes over time, and the main topic is generally clear. Some word choices and collocations are imprecise, however: “jobs market” and “job market” are used where the graph reports numbers of jobs, while “added 15 million jobs” suggests an increase of that amount rather than a total. “Performed better” is also vague for a data comparison. Aim for precise chart language such as “employment,” “the number of jobs,” and “rose to.” This would improve clarity and reduce ambiguity without requiring a much wider vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including clauses with “while” and “after,” and the general meaning is usually recoverable. Some grammatical errors remain, particularly in sentence construction and punctuation. For example, “retail sector performed better started from” joins clauses without a clear grammatical link, and “while agriculture sector…” begins a sentence that is not properly connected to the preceding one. Articles and prepositions are also sometimes missing or awkward, as in “in US economy” and “between all the sectors.” Use complete sentences with a clear subject and verb, and check articles and punctuation when joining clauses. Shorter, accurately controlled sentences would help make the comparisons clearer.

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