Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-10-21

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 image demonstrates the procedure of making a water clock.

Overall, the process contains total seven stages. Each stage is essential to build the water clock. The whole task is based on stand and a bottle on the top. However, there is a glass beaker used for prescise measurements.

Initially, the tap stays on to fill the water inside the bottle. The water bottle is attached to the tape for support.There is a small hole at the botom in the centre of plastic bottle. Futhermore, when water is filled to overflow it can extract from a straw in terms of drops. Subsequently, the finger is get away from the hole to give a clear path to water drops reaching to the beaker. In glass vessel, level of water increases per minute. Ultimately the process comes to end. After complition, the same procedure repeats over and over again for timming things.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the diagram as a seven-stage process and describe several relevant features, including the tap, the upper bottle, the overflow straw, the hole and the repeated timing process. However, some details are inaccurate or unclear: the lower container is a cut-off plastic bottle, not a glass beaker, and the upper bottle is attached to the stand with tape rather than being “attached to the tape.” The account also omits important construction details, such as the straw being fixed with glue and the lower bottle being marked with calibration lines. Explain the stages more precisely, especially the constant overflow level and how the marks indicate levels per minute, to make the report more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The report has a clear overall sequence: an introduction and overview are followed by the stages from turning on the tap to repeating the process. Sequencing expressions such as “Initially,” “Subsequently” and “Ultimately” help the reader follow the process, and the ideas are generally grouped logically. This meets the lower-band expectation of coherent overall arrangement and shows some flexibility in linking. However, the overview introduces the beaker before the process description, and the shift from the upper bottle to the lower vessel is not always clearly signposted. Some links feel mechanical, while “After complition” repeats the ending idea. Use clearer references to the upper and lower bottles and connect each stage directly to its result.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of process vocabulary, including “overflow,” “straw,” “hole,” “procedure” and “repeats,” so the reader can understand the general subject. There are also attempts at more specific wording, such as “clear path” and “per minute.” However, several word choices or collocations are inaccurate and sometimes make the description harder to follow: “extract from a straw in terms of drops” is not a natural way to describe overflow, and “the finger is get away” does not express the action clearly. Spelling errors such as “prescise,” “botom,” “Futhermore,” “complition” and “timming” are noticeable. Prefer precise, familiar process terms and check spelling carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a conditional clause in “when water is filled to overflow” and a time clause beginning “After complition.” The overall sequence remains understandable, but grammatical control is uneven, with frequent errors in verb forms, articles and sentence construction. For example, “the finger is get away” should use a passive form such as “the finger is removed,” while “the water bottle is attached to the tape for support” has an unclear grammatical relationship. Articles are also missing in “at the botom in the centre of plastic bottle,” and punctuation is faulty in “support.There.” Build accuracy with straightforward passive constructions for the stages, then check articles and sentence boundaries before adding complex clauses.

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