Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-08-12

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The diagram below shows the process for making a water clock.

Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information below.

HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN WATER CLOCK

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The diagram illustrates the formation of water clock by going through a few procedures. First of all, a water tap is required to fill water in a huge plastic bottle to an extent that it can overflow through the hole. After that the hole has to be covered with the help of fingers in order to avoid the overflow and to keep the water level constant. A tape is fixed in the center of the bottle and when the fingers are not covering the hole, tiny hydro drops start coming off from the above tanker to the downwards container which shows water levels per minute. All this process can be repeated to have timing thing at the end. Thus, it shows how smooth it is to develop your customised water watch.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 150 words, which significantly impacts the score. While you have attempted to describe the process, the description is quite brief and lacks the necessary detail to fully explain the stages shown in the diagram. For instance, you mention 'a few procedures' but do not elaborate on the specific components or the physical setup in enough depth to provide a comprehensive overview for a university lecturer. To improve, you should aim to describe the equipment and the sequence of steps with more precision and ensure you meet the length requirement to allow for full development of the task.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is written as a single paragraph, which makes it difficult to follow the logical progression of the process. While you use some cohesive devices like 'First of all', 'After that', and 'Thus', the overall structure is quite mechanical. The lack of paragraphing prevents a clear distinction between the preparation phase and the operational phase of the water clock. To improve, you should organize your report into clear paragraphs—perhaps an introduction, a description of the setup, and a description of the operation—to guide the reader more effectively through the process.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, but it lacks the precision and academic tone required for a report. Phrases like 'timing thing' and 'huge plastic bottle' are too informal and imprecise. You also use some awkward collocations, such as 'tiny hydro drops' and 'above tanker'. To reach a higher band, you should focus on using more specific technical vocabulary related to the diagram, such as 'reservoir', 'calibrated', or 'graduated', and avoid overly simplistic or colloquial language. Expanding your range of descriptive verbs and nouns will help convey the process more professionally.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are several grammatical inaccuracies. For example, 'formation of water clock' is missing an article, and 'from the above tanker to the downwards container' is grammatically awkward. Additionally, 'how smooth it is to develop' is not the most natural way to express the ease of the process. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to affect the clarity of your writing. Focusing on article usage and more natural phrasing will help improve your grammatical accuracy.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.