Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-17

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 6.0)

THE LINE GRAPH ILLUSTRATES THE RISE AND FALL IN THE NUMBER OF JOBS IN MILLIONS AMONG FOUR DIFFERENT SECTORS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION IN THE US ECONOMY FROM 1960 TO 2020. OVERALL, MANUFACTURING AND AGRICULTURAL JOBS DECLINED WHILE RETAIL AND HEALTHCARE FIGURE ROSE OVERTIME.MANUFACTURING SECTOR CONTRIBUTED HIGHEST IN THE US ECONOMY IN 1980 WHILE AGRICULTURAL JOBS CONTRIBUTED LEAST in 2020.

IN 1960, US ECONOMY HAD 15 MILLIONS JOB IN MANUFACTURING AREA WHILE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR STARTED WITH MORE THAN 5 MILLIONS. LATER THIS FIGURE INCREASED FOR MANUFACTURING SECTOR REACHING THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF JOBS WHILE FOR AGRICULTURAL PART, THE FIGURE DECLINED SLIGHTLY UP TO 2020. FROM 1980 TO 2020, MANUFACTURING JOBS' CONTRIBUTION DECLINED SIGNIFICANTLY REACHING LESS THAN 15 MILLION IN 2020.

AFTER A CONTINUOUS INCREASE FROM MORE THAN 5 MILLIONS TO 15 MILLIONS IN RETAIL SECTOR AND MORE THAN 10 MILLIONS IN HEALTHCARE SECTOR, RETAIL JOBS ALMOST LEVELLED OFF FROM 2000 TO 2020. REGARDING HEALTHCARE SECTOR , THE FIGURE ROSE UPTO MORE THAN 15 MILLIONS IN 2020.

IN CONCLUSION, THIS LINE CHART DEMONSTRATED THE CONTRIBUTION OF 4 DIFFERENT SECTORS IN THE US ECONOMY IN THE FORM OF NUMBER OF JOBS OVER A PERIOD OF TIME WITH HEALTHCARE AND RETAIL SECTOR HAD THE HIGHEST JOBS IN 2020.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main overall contrast accurately: manufacturing and agriculture decline over the period, while retail and healthcare rise. You also select relevant comparisons, including manufacturing’s peak in 1980 and the low level of agricultural employment in 2020. Most reported figures and trends match the graph. However, some details are imprecise: agriculture falls from about 6 million to 2 million, rather than declining only “slightly,” and retail rises to around 16 million by 2020, not simply levelling off without a clear final comparison. The conclusion says retail and healthcare had the highest employment in 2020, but does not note that both were approximately equal. Develop the overview and comparisons more precisely, especially the changing ranking of the sectors.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure, with an opening overview followed by paragraphs covering manufacturing/agriculture and retail/healthcare. This grouping helps the reader follow the main trends, and time markers such as “In 1960,” “From 1980 to 2020,” and “in 2020” provide a basic chronological framework. However, some connections are mechanical or unclear. The long opening sentence combines the graph description and overview, while the final “In conclusion” repeats the task rather than adding a useful summary. Phrases such as “After a continuous increase…” make it harder to see which sector each figure refers to. Use clearer topic sentences and explicit comparisons between the sectors, and avoid repeating the introduction in the conclusion.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for describing trends, including “declined,” “increased,” “reaching,” and “levelled off.” These choices communicate the broad movements, and terms such as “manufacturing sector” and “agricultural jobs” are relevant to the chart. Some word choices and collocations are inaccurate or repetitive, however. “Contribution” is used repeatedly where the graph measures the number of jobs, and “agricultural part” is not a natural description of a sector. “Healthcare figure rose” is also awkward, and “overtime” is not the intended expression for change across the period. Aim for precise chart language and vary the verbs used to describe rises and falls.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including contrasts with “while” and time clauses such as “After a continuous increase…”. The main trends remain understandable, but some grammatical errors recur. For example, “15 millions job” has incorrect number agreement and pluralisation, while “healthcare and retail sector had” has a subject–verb agreement problem. The phrase “with healthcare and retail sector had” also combines structures incorrectly, and “retail jobs almost levelled off from 2000 to 2020” would be clearer with a more accurate sentence construction. Capitalisation and punctuation are inconsistent, including the all-capital text and spacing around punctuation. Check agreement, articles, plurals, and sentence boundaries when editing.

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