Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-08-27

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 5.0)

The process chart illustrates how to generate own water clock. Overall, there are main seven stages of the process. Start with tap water and end with storage.

Firstly, the process begin with tap on and then the water fill into the plastic bottle. After that, secondly, this store water into the plastic bottle at bottom side cover hole with the finger. Thirdly,the water fill in to the bottle at top level to overflow. Subsequently, the fourth step of the process is make the level constant. However, in fifth step of the process the finger away from the hole it make to start the water clock process. The plastic bottle at bottom mark the levels per minute for timing. In addition, tge last step is empty the plastic bottle and repeat the overall process for timing things. These process is also recycling process for making own water clock with the help of water.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response covers the main stages of the process, but the description is often unclear and lacks the necessary detail to fully explain the mechanism. For example, the explanation of 'making the level constant' is vague, and the instruction to 'cover the hole with the finger' is described in a way that is difficult to follow. While the response identifies the start and end points, the lack of precision in describing the technical steps means the information is not fully developed. To improve, you should focus on clearly explaining the purpose of each stage in the process rather than just listing them.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay uses basic cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'Thirdly', which helps the reader follow the sequence. However, the paragraphing is poor; the entire response is written as one block of text, which makes it difficult to navigate. Furthermore, some transitions are used awkwardly, such as 'However, in fifth step', which does not logically contrast with the previous sentence. The progression of ideas is present but mechanical. To achieve a higher band, you should group related steps into distinct paragraphs and use a wider variety of cohesive devices to link sentences more naturally.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is quite limited and repetitive, with the phrase 'plastic bottle' appearing four times. There are also errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'generate own water clock' (should be 'construct' or 'build') and 'the water fill in to the bottle' (should be 'is filled into'). The vocabulary is sufficient to convey the basic meaning, but it lacks the precision and range required for a higher score. You should aim to use more specific verbs related to processes, such as 'fill', 'drain', 'calibrate', or 'measure', and avoid repeating the same nouns.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including issues with subject-verb agreement ('the process begin', 'the water fill') and missing articles ('with tap on', 'at bottom side'). Sentence structures are mostly simple, and there is a lack of complex sentence forms. Punctuation is also inconsistent, with missing spaces after commas and periods. These errors are frequent and occasionally make the text difficult to read. To improve, focus on mastering basic sentence construction, specifically ensuring that verbs agree with their subjects and that articles are used correctly before nouns.

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