Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-14

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The diagram below shows how geothermal energy is used to produce electricity.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Student answer (Band 4.5)

The given diagram illustrates how geothermal energy is used to produce electricity :

Firstly cold water is pumped down to the geothermal zone through the injection well then the hot water is pumped up through the production well to the condenser after that is passed to the turbine in the form of steam after that, the generator is powered by turbines and produced electricity then after this whole process the electricity is transferred to the geothermal power plant and is produced to the whole colony.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0

The response is significantly under the minimum length requirement, containing only 85 words instead of the required 150 words. Because of this severe brevity, the overview and key features of the geothermal energy production process are only minimally addressed. While the text correctly identifies the starting point and general sequence, such as pumping cold water down and bringing hot water up through wells, it lacks the depth, comparison, and fully developed detail expected in an Academic Task 1 response. This results in a heavy penalty for task completion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The text suffers from a lack of proper paragraphing, presented entirely as a single run-on block of text without clear structural divisions. Cohesive devices are restricted to repetitive and mechanical linkers, most notably the phrase "after that" used consecutively. There is little punctuation to guide the reader through the stages of the diagram, making the progression feel rushed and overly simplistic. While the sequence of steps follows the visual diagram linearly, the overall cohesion fails to meet the standards for higher bands due to the absence of paragraph structure and variety in cohesive ties.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is basic and heavily reliant on direct lifting of terms from the prompt and diagram, such as "geothermal energy," "injection well," "production well," "condenser," "turbine," and "generator." There is very little attempt to paraphrase or use less common lexical items. Word choices are mostly functional, but there are minor awkwardness issues, such as "produced to the whole colony" instead of supplying electricity to a settlement or community. The range is minimally adequate to convey the basic steps but lacks flexibility and precision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.5

Grammatically, the response consists of a single, excessively long, run-on sentence connected by coordinating conjunctions and sequencing adverbs rather than proper subordination or punctuation. There is a complete absence of full stops or commas to break up clauses, which heavily restricts the grammatical range to a repetitive pattern. Although basic structures are mostly understandable, the lack of punctuation and complex sentence variation means that control over sentence boundary delimitation is poor, impacting readability.

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

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