Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-16

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 4.5)

The diagram illustrates the formation of rain-shadow desert.

when we observed diagram mountains situated in between sea and inland wind is travelling thousand of kilometers from sea to inland passing through mountains .

Intially winds are approaching the coast toward mountains from sea then winds are pushed upwards to windward side then the moist air rises and cools down to forms clouds. Afterward when rains falls on top of mountains dry air continues over mountains and continued down side of leeward then the dry winds approaches the inland areas finally at beneafth of the inland the rain shadow desert is formed.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.5

The response attempts to describe the process of rain-shadow desert formation shown in the diagram, capturing key stages such as winds approaching the coast, rising over mountains, forming clouds and rain, and descending as dry air into inland areas. However, the response fails to meet the minimum length requirement of 150 words, containing only 101 words. This severely limits the depth and completeness of the response. Furthermore, there is no clear overall summary provided, which is an essential feature of a successful Academic Task 1 report. Consequently, task achievement is significantly constrained.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0

The response is written as a single dense block of text with virtually no paragraphing, which makes the progression of the process difficult to follow. Cohesive devices are extremely basic and repetitive (e.g., 'then', 'afterward', 'finally'). Punctuation is largely neglected, with run-on sentences such as 'when we observed diagram mountains situated in between sea and inland wind is travelling thousand of kilometers from sea to inland passing through mountains .' creating severe boundary issues. Although a chronological sequence is attempted, the lack of punctuation and paragraph structure impedes smooth reading and logical organization.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is very basic and closely mimics the prompts and labels on the diagram (e.g., 'winds approach coast', 'moist air rises and cools', 'dry air continues over mountain'). There are several lexical and spelling errors, such as 'Intially', 'beneafth', and awkward phrasing like 'at beneafth of the inland'. While the words are sufficient to convey a general meaning, the range is limited and repetitive, preventing the writer from demonstrating flexibility or precision in describing the geographical process.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

The grammatical range is severely restricted. The text consists almost entirely of poorly punctuated run-on sentences connected by conjunctions like 'then' and 'and'. There is a complete lack of accurate complex sentence structures, and basic punctuation such as capital letters and full stops are largely missing or misplaced (e.g., 'when we observed diagram...'). Subject-verb agreement and article usage also show frequent inaccuracies. Errors are constant throughout the text and frequently impede the reader's understanding.

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.