Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-03

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 number of jobs (in millions) in four sectors of the economy in the US from 1960 to 2020.

Overall, retail and healthcare saw the significant growth throughout the period. In contrast, agriculture was only to decline.Notably, Manufacturing grew steady but fell significantly.

Retail started just above 5 in 1960, rose significantly to 15 in 2000, and grew steady till 2020 reaching just above 15 millions. Meanwhile, healthcare started below 5 and rose significantly to same figure as retail in year 2020. Healthcare had the most growth throughout the period, started below than any sector and ended at just above 15 million.

Regarding the other sectors, manufacturing rose from 15 to 20 million in first two decades and then decline sharply till 2020, gone below the number of retail and healthcare. Agriculture throughout the period had decline, started just above 5 million in 1960 and fell to just above 0 in 2020.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main overall contrast: retail and healthcare rise, while agriculture declines, and you describe manufacturing’s rise to a peak followed by a fall. Several comparisons are relevant, including healthcare and retail ending at similar levels and manufacturing finishing below them. However, some details are imprecise: retail reaches about 15 million in 2000 and 16 million in 2020, while healthcare rises from about 2 to 16 million. The statement that agriculture was “only to decline” is unclear, and its fall from 6 to 2 million could be reported more precisely. The response is 147 words, three words below the 150-word minimum; the nine words copied from the prompt are not counted. Develop the overview and key figures more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs grouping the rising sectors and the other sectors. This makes the main trends easy to follow, and linking expressions such as “Overall,” “Meanwhile,” and “Regarding the other sectors” help signal progression. The organisation is coherent, though some connections are mechanical or unclear. For example, “In contrast, agriculture was only to decline.Notably” runs two ideas together, and the repeated healthcare information in the second paragraph could be integrated more efficiently. To strengthen progression, keep the overview concise and use the detail paragraphs to compare sectors directly at the same dates, rather than repeating the endpoint comparison.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of trend vocabulary, including “rose,” “decline,” “reaching,” and “fell significantly,” and the meaning is generally understandable. However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or repetitive: “grew steady” should be “grew steadily,” “was only to decline” is not a natural way to describe a downward trend, and “gone below the number” is awkward. “Millions” is also used where the unit is better expressed as “million jobs.” These issues limit precision, particularly when describing the pace and endpoint of changes. Aim for accurate, varied trend language and check whether each verb or adjective fits its grammatical form and collocation.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use both simple sentences and some longer structures, such as “Retail started just above 5 in 1960, rose significantly to 15 in 2000, and grew steady till 2020.” The main trends remain understandable, but some grammatical errors occur. Examples include the missing space and punctuation in “decline.Notably,” the incomplete construction “agriculture was only to decline,” and tense errors in “then decline sharply” and “gone below.” The phrase “started below than any sector” also has an incorrect comparative structure. Use consistent past-tense verbs for the historical data, and check sentence boundaries and comparative forms. More accurate control of these patterns would make the report clearer.

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