Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

The graphs represents the four number of jobs in US for economy from 1960 to 1920.

Overall, healthcare and retail jobs increased significantly and reached at the same point, while there is only one job we can see the downfall of, and that is manufacturing.

In 1960, the jobs in healthcare started from 2 million and ended in 15 million in 2020. Same with the retail jobs, it ended with 15 million in 2020 but started with approximately 6 million.

Manufacturing job is the only one job which started with the same number of jobs as retail and healthcare ended, that is 15 million. It increased dramatically in 1980 to 20 million but after that it decreased and fall in approximalety 13 million in 2020. Lastly, agriculture started from 6 million and it declined in 1980 to 3 million and in one year it remain stable, but after that it slightly lower its number of jobs from 3 million to 2 million.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify several important patterns: healthcare and retail rise, manufacturing peaks in 1980 before declining, and agriculture falls overall. You also include relevant figures for each sector. However, the overview is not fully accurate: healthcare and retail do not finish at the same level; both reach about 16 million in 2020, while the response says 15 million. The claim that manufacturing is the only sector to decline is also unclear, since agriculture declines throughout and should be contrasted with it. The opening gives the end year as 1920 rather than 2020. To make the summary more complete and precise, state the main ranking changes and accurately compare the final figures.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic structure, moving from an introduction and overview to details about the sectors, and signposts such as “Overall,” “In 1960,” and “Lastly” help readers follow the sequence. However, the progression is not consistently clear: the second paragraph groups healthcare and retail, while the next shifts to manufacturing and then agriculture without a clear organising principle. Some links are awkward or unclear, particularly “Same with the retail jobs” and “in one year it remain stable,” which makes the time sequence difficult to follow. Organise the details into clearer comparisons—for example, rising sectors together and declining sectors together—and use accurate references to years and figures to strengthen the flow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant vocabulary for describing trends, including “increased dramatically,” “decreased,” “declined,” and “stable.” This gives the reader a basic sense of the changes. However, the range is limited and several choices or combinations are unnatural, such as “the four number of jobs,” “reached at the same point,” and “slightly lower its number of jobs.” There is also a spelling error in “approximalety.” These issues make parts of the report less clear and precise. Build a more accurate set of trend expressions and collocations, such as “the number of jobs rose to,” “fell to,” and “remained stable,” and check spelling before submitting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and longer sentences, and the overall meaning is usually recoverable. However, grammatical errors occur frequently, including subject–verb agreement in “The graphs represents,” incorrect verb forms in “it decreased and fall,” and tense/agreement problems in “it remain stable.” Sentence construction is also faulty in phrases such as “Same with the retail jobs, it ended,” which lacks a clear grammatical link to the previous sentence. Articles and number expressions are inconsistent, as in “the only one job.” Practise forming complete comparison sentences and maintaining past-tense agreement throughout. More accurate control of these basic patterns would make the report easier to read.

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