Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-16

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 7.0)

The line graph illustrated, the number of jobs in four economy sector in the US, over a sixty year period from 1960 to 2020.

Overall, it is clear that, retail and healthcare sector experienced a significant upward trend and finished the period as the highest, whereas, manufacturing peaked at the middle then sharply decline. Meanwhile, agriculture showed a fewest job throughout the period.

In 1960, healthcare had the lowest number of jobs at only 2 million. However, it grew steadily and reached 16 million in 2020. Similarly, retail sector started around 6 million jobs in 1960 and rose continuously over the 60 year period and reached at the same level as healthcare (16 million) in 2020.

On the other hand, manufacturing started at highest sector with 15 million jobs in 1960, it peaked at 20 million jobs in just two decade(1980), but then dropped continuously to the end of the period to 13 million in 2020. Agriculture began at 6 million jobs in 1960 but fell sharply to 3 million in 1980, and ended at just 2 million jobs in 2020

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 8.0

The response selects the main trends and supports them with relevant figures: healthcare rises from 2 to 16 million, retail from about 6 to 16 million, manufacturing peaks at 20 million before falling to 13 million, and agriculture declines to 2 million. The overview clearly identifies the broad contrast between growth in retail and healthcare and decline in agriculture, while noting manufacturing’s peak and subsequent fall. These points accurately reflect the graph and provide a well-developed summary rather than listing every data point. One small imprecision is saying retail and healthcare “finished the period as the highest”: they shared the top position at 16 million, so “joint-highest” would be more exact. Overall, the key features and comparisons are covered effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The response is organised in a clear sequence: an introduction, an overview, and two detail paragraphs grouping the rising sectors and the declining sectors. This gives the reader a logical progression through the graph, and linking phrases such as “Overall,” “Similarly,” and “On the other hand” help signal relationships between points. Some connections are less smooth because punctuation creates run-on or awkwardly joined clauses, particularly “manufacturing started at highest sector …, it peaked…” The repeated use of “period” and “reached” also makes parts of the progression feel slightly mechanical. More controlled sentence boundaries and a little variation in how comparisons are linked would make the cohesion more flexible and polished.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

The vocabulary is adequate for describing trends, with useful choices such as “peaked,” “upward trend,” “fell sharply,” and “dropped continuously.” These allow the main movements to be communicated clearly, and the writer uses several relevant terms rather than relying only on basic verbs. However, some word forms and collocations are inaccurate or imprecise: “four economy sector” should be “four economic sectors,” and “showed a fewest job” is not a natural way to describe the lowest figure. “Finished … as the highest” also misses the fact that the two sectors tied. The range is sufficient, but more accurate collocations and a broader set of trend expressions would improve precision and flexibility.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

There is a mix of simple and more complex sentence forms, including contrast clauses with “whereas” and “but,” and most of the information remains easy to understand. Some grammatical errors persist, however. The opening sentence lacks a main verb after “illustrated,” and “manufacturing started at highest sector …, it peaked” joins two independent clauses with only a comma. Other examples include “it grew … and reached” after the subject “healthcare,” where agreement should be checked, and “reached at the same level,” which uses an incorrect preposition. Articles, plurals, and sentence punctuation also need attention. More consistent control of these basic patterns would make the varied structures more accurate.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.