Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-08-23

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The diagram below shows how one type of desert, known as a rain-shadow desert, is formed.

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

The formation of rain-shadow deserts

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The diagram illustrates how the air formation changes from one side of mountain to the other and formed rain shadow desert.

Overall, it consists of almost seven steps from air passing through sea with moisture to the mountains than moving across to the other side of mountain. In the passage air lost all the moisture on top of mountain, before going to the other side. The dry air moving through mountain`s other side reaches on island causing dry shadow effect. Air travels thousands of kilometers.

First of all, winds from sea containing its moisture move towards the side of mountains. As the air goes higher it gets cold. the cold air does not hold water. So the clouds formed, it drops rain and snow.

As the air crosses the peak and goes down to the other side of the mountain, it warms up, leftover clouds disappear and there is very little rainfall which causes other side very dry and desert like, called rain-shadow deserts.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers the main features of the diagram, identifying the key stages of the rain-shadow effect. However, the description is somewhat simplistic and lacks a clear, analytical overview. While the sequence of events is identified, the explanation of the process is slightly disjointed. The summary could be improved by better integrating the relationship between moisture loss, altitude, and the resulting climatic conditions on the leeward side. The mention of 'thousands of kilometers' is an external detail not explicitly supported by the provided diagram, which should be avoided in Task 1 responses.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, moving from an overview to the specific stages of the process. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'First of all' and 'As the air crosses', but the flow between sentences is occasionally mechanical. The referencing is sometimes unclear, such as the phrase 'air formation changes', which does not accurately describe the meteorological process shown. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction, overview, and process details, which helps the reader follow the progression of the explanation.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks precision and variety. There is some repetition of basic terms like 'air', 'mountain', and 'side'. While the student successfully uses terms like 'moisture', 'rain-shadow', and 'leeward' (implied), the phrasing is often clunky, such as 'air formation changes' or 'reaches on island'. To reach a higher band, the student should incorporate more precise scientific terminology related to geography and meteorology, such as 'prevailing winds', 'precipitation', 'condensation', and 'arid conditions'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, including missing articles ('on top of mountain'), incorrect preposition usage ('reaches on island'), and awkward phrasing ('causes other side very dry'). Punctuation is generally functional, but there are minor errors such as the misuse of the backtick instead of an apostrophe in 'mountain`s'. While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the overall process, they occur frequently enough to limit the score to the 5.5–6.0 range.

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

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