Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-11-02

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 diagram illustrats the process of making our own water clock.

overall severn stages are involved init starting with opening a tap and ending with emptying the plastic bottle and repeating the process for timing things. to build it we need plastic bottles, straw, glue, tape, stand.

first to build it we need a stand placed vertically. place the plastic bottle where its neck cut off, at the bottom side of the stand and mark levels on it to note down levels per minute during the process. exactly above this bottle put the other one leaving some gap

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

You identify the diagram as a water-clock process and give a broadly accurate overview: it has seven stages, beginning with turning on the tap and ending with emptying and repeating the process. You also mention several materials and describe the stand and lower bottle. However, the report is incomplete: it stops before explaining how the upper bottle is fitted, how water is released, or how the clock is used to mark time. The response is also below the required 150 words, so several key stages are omitted. To address the task more fully, describe the overflow straw and the sequence of covering the hole, filling the bottle, and then allowing water to drip into the marked lower container.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic sequence, moving from an overview to materials and then to the first construction details. Words such as “overall” and “first” help signal this order, and the final sentence begins to describe the apparatus spatially. However, the progression is not completed: the account ends abruptly at “leaving some gap,” without connecting the construction to the numbered stages or explaining what happens next. The opening overview and the construction description are also crowded together rather than clearly separated. Use distinct paragraphs for the overview, construction, and operating stages, and link each step with clear sequencing expressions such as “next,” “once assembled,” and “finally.”

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant basic vocabulary, including “plastic bottles,” “straw,” “glue,” “tape,” and “stand,” and phrases such as “at the bottom side” and “exactly above” attempt to describe the apparatus’s position. The range is nevertheless limited, and some choices are imprecise or awkward: “mark levels on it to note down levels per minute” repeats “levels” and does not clearly convey calibration marks. There are also spelling errors in “illustrats” and “severn,” which reduce accuracy. Build a more precise process vocabulary, for example “attach,” “secure,” “overflow,” “calibration marks,” and “water drips into the lower container.” Check spelling and avoid repeating the same general noun where a more specific term is available.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You communicate several simple instructions and attempt a longer sentence describing the bottles’ positions, but the grammatical range is limited and errors are frequent enough to make parts of the description difficult to follow. For example, “overall severn stages are involved init starting” lacks clear sentence boundaries and has an unclear construction, while “place the plastic bottle where its neck cut off” is missing the verb phrase “has been cut off.” The sentence beginning “exactly above this bottle” is also incomplete, and punctuation and capitalisation are inconsistent. Practise forming complete passive sentences for processes, such as “The lower bottle is placed on the stand,” and use full stops to separate each stage.

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