Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

The provided line chart below illustrates information about how many jobs in four different sectors of the economy in the United states in 1960, 1980, 2000 and 2020.

Overall, it is immediately apparent that the number of jobs in manufacturing sector had the largest share in 1980, while both retail and healthcare sectors experienced a significant upward trend in 2020. Regarding agriculture sector, it remained almost unchanged throughout the period of 1980, 2000 and 2020.

Between 1960 and 1980, manufacturing, retail, and healthcare sectors increased, whereas agriculture sector witnessed a marked decline from around 6 million to about 2.5 million. However, manufacturing jobs rose from 15 million to 20 million in 1980 and retail jobs started from the same point as agriculture sector at 6 million and rose to 10 million.

Between 2000 and 2020, while the number of jobs in manufacturing sector started to drop from 20 million to approximately 17 million in 2020, the number of jobs in both retain and healthcare sectors surged to just above 15 million jobs, which is the largest figures in 2020. Jobs in agriculture sector dropped constantly to 3 million in 2020.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main broad patterns: manufacturing peaks in 1980, retail and healthcare rise, and agriculture declines. However, some comparisons and figures are unclear or inaccurate. Agriculture falls to about 3 million by 1980, not 2.5 million, and remains around 3 million in 2000 before reaching about 2 million in 2020; saying it was almost unchanged across all three years overlooks this final fall. The overview also says retail and healthcare show an upward trend “in 2020,” rather than summarising their growth over the period. In addition, manufacturing falls from 20 million in 1980 to 17 million in 2000 and 13 million in 2020, not to 17 million in 2020. More precise coverage of the later years would strengthen the report.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The response is organised into a clear introduction, overview and two chronological detail paragraphs. The sequence from 1960–1980 to 2000–2020 helps the reader follow the data, and linking expressions such as “Overall,” “whereas” and “However” make relationships between trends clear. The contrast in the final paragraph is also easy to follow. To make the progression more complete, include the 1980–2000 changes explicitly rather than moving directly from the first period to the last; this would avoid a gap in the account. Some linking is slightly repetitive, particularly the repeated use of “while,” but cohesion is generally flexible and the paragraphing is effective.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

You use a suitable range of trend vocabulary, including “marked decline,” “rose,” “drop” and “surged,” and the meaning is generally clear. There is also some flexibility in describing comparisons, for example, “started from the same point as agriculture sector.” However, a few choices are inaccurate or awkward: “retain” appears to be a misspelling of “retail,” “largest share” is not the most precise way to describe job numbers, and “surged to just above 15 million jobs” does not fit the chart’s approximate values as neatly as “rose to around 16 million.” “Significant upward trend in 2020” is also imprecise because the increase occurs over several decades. More exact collocations and careful proofreading would add precision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 7.0

You use a good mix of sentence forms, including complex comparisons with “whereas” and “while,” and several sentences are controlled and easy to understand. For example, the sentence beginning “Between 1960 and 1980” clearly contrasts the sectors. Some grammatical inaccuracies remain, especially with articles and noun phrases: “in manufacturing sector” and “in 2020” would be more natural as “in the manufacturing sector” and “by 2020” in the relevant contexts. The opening sentence is also awkwardly constructed, with “in the United states” interrupting the phrase describing the sectors. These issues do not prevent understanding, but checking articles, phrasing and sentence boundaries would make the otherwise varied grammar more consistently accurate.

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