Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-20

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 line graph gives detail about the number of occupations in four sectors (manufacturing, retail, agriculture, and healthcare) of the economy in the US from 1960 to 2020.

Overall, manufacturing represented the peak numbers of the US economy, and steadily declined over the years, whereas healthcare department was started at the lowest number among the others three departments, but increased throughout the years.

To begin with, the manufacturing department represented the highest number of jobs in 1960 at 15 million, and reached at peak point in 1980 at 20 million occupation, but steadily declined from 20 million jobs to around 13 million between 1980 and 2000. The healthcare department started with the lowest number of jobs around at 2 millions in 1960, but steadily surged between 1980 and 2020 from around five millions to 16 millions.

The agriculture and retail started with the same number of jobs around 6 millions, and agriculture deparment declined over the years and reached at around 3 million in 2020, whereas retail department steadily rose and reached at around 16 millions in 2020 and surpassed the manufacturing department in 2020.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You identify the main overall contrast: manufacturing peaks and then declines, while healthcare rises, and you include several relevant figures. The comparison that retail and agriculture both begin at about six million, followed by retail overtaking manufacturing by 2020, is also useful. However, some details are inaccurate or unclear: manufacturing falls from 20 million in 1980 to 17 million in 2000 and then 13 million in 2020, not to around 13 million by 2000. Agriculture ends at about two million, rather than three million. The overview also misses the important convergence of retail and healthcare at roughly 16 million in 2020. These omissions and misreadings limit the precision of an otherwise relevant summary.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure, moving from an introduction and overview to two detail paragraphs. The contrast signalled by “whereas” helps connect the main trends, and the final paragraph groups retail and agriculture effectively. This gives the report a coherent progression. Some links between time periods and figures are less clear, however: the manufacturing sentence appears to place the fall to 13 million between 1980 and 2000, while the chart shows that this decline continues to 2020. The healthcare sentence also jumps from 1960 to the 1980–2020 period without reporting the intervening trend clearly. More precise sequencing and clearer references to each year would make the cohesion less dependent on repeated “but” and “whereas” constructions.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use a reasonable range of task-related vocabulary, including “declined,” “surged,” “surpassed,” and “reached,” so the main trends are generally understandable. There are also attempts at more formal phrasing, such as “represented the highest number.” However, several choices are unnatural or imprecise for describing employment data: “number of occupations” is better expressed as “number of jobs,” and “healthcare department” and “agriculture department” incorrectly suggest organisational units rather than sectors. “Reached at peak point” and “steadily surged” are also awkward collocations. These choices do not prevent understanding, but more accurate and natural vocabulary would improve precision and control.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use both simple and complex sentence forms, including clauses joined with “whereas” and “but,” and most of the meaning remains clear. Some grammatical errors persist, particularly with articles, prepositions, and plural forms. For example, “reached at peak point” should be “reached a peak,” while “started with the lowest number … around at 2 millions” contains an awkward preposition pattern and an incorrect plural. In “the others three departments,” the determiner and adjective order are incorrect; use “the other three sectors.” The manufacturing sentence also has a tense/time relationship that makes the period of decline unclear. More consistent control of these patterns, alongside varied sentence structures, would strengthen accuracy.

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